Endless Nights
by MzLuluZombie
Summary: Laharl's a vassal to underlevelled brat, said brat Axis is out to kill her father, Glen's a thief unluckily bound to Axis and Etna & Flonne are returning from a space pirate trip? The hell is going on! Read and review, please! :3
1. Laharl's Vacation

I've become obsessed with the Disgaea series. And so, I wrote a fanfic taking place in its universe. XD

**DISCLAIMER:** Any canon characters / objects / locations / etc. stuff belong to Nippon Ichi. Any OCs / original locations / objects / etc. stuff belong to me. This is purely for fun and is not meant to be taken serious at all. Is there really much point to this disclaimer? I don't know, you be the judge.

EDIT: 23 / 11 / 10, fixed grammar and misspellings and tweaked a couple of lines.

* * *

Laharl's Vacation

It all began when he woke up from his nap. Inside a castle surrounded by flame and lava, the powerful overlord opened his eyes.

"Aaaaah… that was a good nap," he yawned to himself, pushing the lid of his coffin open. He sat up and stretched, please with how peaceful he had slept. Because normally he would have been rudely awoken. Like a demon obsessed with love would have woken up for an 'emergency' (in other words, her students were setting things on fire. How is that a problem?) Or another demon waking him up because the Prinnies were on strike in an effort to get more money (damned money grabbers).

…Although, now that he was thinking about it, it was quiet. Too quiet.

"…Flonne! Etna!"

His voice bounced off the walls and echoed within his room. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Etna! Flonne! Get in here!"

He strained his ears to try and hear something: a flustered response from Flonne, or an agitated quip to pipe down from Etna. But all that followed was silence.

"HEY! ETNA! FLONNE!"

The castle itself rumbled at the sound of his voice, but his vassals still did not reply. He jumped out of the coffin, clenched his fists tight and stomped out of his room. They had better not be plotting another prank, like that stupid anime they had made in that stupid human world. What was it called again? …Wait, who cares?

* * *

"D-d-d-d-d-dood! Prince Laharl is angry!" A Prinny was frantically pacing back and forth, speaking with the Dragon that stood just outside the throne room. The Prinny was panicking, as his master's superior had just caused the castle to shake, and said superior hadn't even been awake for that long. "Maybe he didn't have a good nap? I thought we all made sure to keep things quiet enough so that he wouldn't wake up grumpy, dood!"

Dratti yawned (she had also been taking a nap) and rubbed some of the remaining sleep from her eyes. "Well, I think I know one reason why he might be mad."

The Prinny looked up at her hopefully. "Y-you do, dood?"

"Yeah. Because you called him _Prince_ Laharl."

The Prinny froze, knowing it was too late for him now. The end of a red scarf wrapped around his neck and held him in midair, facing the blue-haired demon surrounded by an angry aura of blue flame. "M-m-*gag*-master Lah-*gag*-arl," the poor Prinny choked.

"It's. OVERLORD. Laharl."

"*Gag* O-of c-c-*gag*-course, *gag* d-dood!" The scarf tightened around his neck. "F-f-forgive me *gag*, Overlord Laharl!"

"…Hmph. Better." Laharl's scarf released the penguin-like creature and watched as he dropped to the floor. No explosion. He must have been a demon Prinny. _(Fact: Prinnies who were once demons don't 'splode so much)_ Oh well, no time for speculation. "Tell me, where'd they go?"

"*cough* Who, d-dood?" Laharl's scarf clenched and the Prinny shivered in fear of being choked again. "Y-y-you mean Master Etna and Miss Flonne, dood?"

"Who else?"

"W-well, uh, it could've b-been - "

"That was rhetorical." The overlord rolled his eyes. Prinnies were so stupid.

"Um, well, dood, I… uh - "

_BOOM!_

"Answer. Faster."

The Prinny gaped at the sudden hole in the thick stone wall next to Dratti's head, who had somehow managed to fall asleep again despite their overlord's yelling. In a rush, he swung around and started his hasty explanation.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but no-one really knows where they went! Miss Flonne said something about a spaceship and Master Etna said something about space pirates and I don't know anything please don't kill me, Overlord Laharl!" The Prinny bowed down on the floor in front of Laharl, crying from the thought of being punished.

Laharl was frozen. His eye twitched. In stiff movements, he walked slowly back into the throne room and slowly closed the door behind him.

"…WHAAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAAA-AAAA-AAT?"

Dratti opened her eyes sleepily, grumbling a complaint about the castle's sudden shaking, and she looked at the trembling Prinny on the floor. "I don't think he liked what he heard."

* * *

"How dare they? They LEFT? AGAIN?" Laharl ranted to himself, marching from one end of the throne room to the other. Everything around him had been trashed (save for the throne, he had to sit in it after all) and he was surrounded by the fiery blue aura of anger as he did so. "They didn't even ask MY permission! AND I'M THEIR FRICKIN' OVERLORD!"

Okay, so when they left the first time, they came back afterwards. After Laharl finally shoved them through a portal and dragged his new chef with him. But spaceships and space pirates? How the hell was he going to track them down on that information alone? Damn their cameos. They thought they could leave anytime they wanted and that he would just go along with it like there was nothing wrong. What kind of vassals were they?

_Knock, knock, knock._

"WHAT IS IT?" Laharl screamed at the door.

It opened just slightly, and a familiar blonde, with eyes closed, took a small step into the room. The Cleric didn't look scared, but she definitely acted cautious. "Lord Laharl, the Dimensional Gate has been repaired," she said.

Laharl frowned at the Gatekeeper. "It was broken?"

"Not anymore, my lord." He noticed her slowly slipping back out through the door, possibly wary of any sudden attacks of anger. "It is now working well. However, I believe there is something you might wish to know."

Intrigued, somewhat, Laharl crossed his arms and his angry aura started to dissipate into nothing. May as well try to take his mind off his disobedient 'friends' of his. "What something?"

The Dimensional Gatekeeper, still cautious, took another step out from behind the door to explain. "It appears that a gate to another Netherworld has opened itself."

_Not again,_ Laharl thought. He sighed and, out of habit, glared at the Gatekeeper with annoyance. "It's not that Evil Academy place again, is it?" Because he sure as hell wasn't going back just to get something else of his stolen.

"No sir, it's a different Netherworld."

Laharl's antennae perked up and his ear twitched at the words. This was interesting. Maybe Flonne and Etna would like to go check it out with hi- wait, weren't they gone? …Damn them and their space pirates. They were having all the fun… Then he got an idea. An evil grin formed on his face and he chuckled. "Vassal. How long can you keep it open for?"

"I'm not sure. The gate was open when repairs were finished, so it could close at any time." The Gatekeeper noticed her overlord's face and made a guess of what he was thinking. "But all I need to do is simply examine it, and I will be able to keep it open for as long as you wish, my lord."

"…How long do you need?"

"Perhaps an hour or two, at least, and five hours at most. Do you wish for me to inform you when I have secured it?"

"Heh. That'll do. Now get to work."

The Gatekeeper gave a quick bow and closed the door behind her. As soon as the door closed, Laharl threw his head back and laughed.

"Haaaaahahahaha! This is perfect!"

Why didn't he think of this sooner? If Etna and Flonne could leave the Netherworld whenever they wanted, then why couldn't he? Besides, he had been working hard as the overlord lately. He needed a vacation of sorts. And this new portal was too convenient to leave alone. Yeah, this plan would work. Leave someone else temporarily in charge of the Netherworld (sucker) and go explore this other Netherworld for a while, maybe even kick some asses and dethrone an overlord or two while he was at it. It was better than waiting around for the girls to get back, and it was definitely WAY better than going on a wild goose chase for them.

Now, who could he put in charge during his absence?

* * *

"What?" Almaz squeaked, staring wide-eyed at the overlord he had only met not too long ago. Laharl sighed. This guy was a hero? Really? "Y-you want us to… what?"

"I'll say it again." Laharl straightened up and looked Almaz in the eye. Of course he had to look up. Why did he have to be shorter than everyone? "I want you and Axe Crazy here to take care of the Netherworld for me while I'm gone."

"Don't say that about Sapphire!" Almaz snapped back, ready to draw his sword. Laharl clenched his fist around a sphere of flame and glared up at the hero. Almaz gulped, but he didn't look like he was ready to back down anytime soon. Alright, so maybe he _was_ a hero.

The hero's wife, however, hadn't really paid much mind to the demon's comment. "Sounds like fun, Lord Laharl! Oooh, Almaz, maybe we should try house-sitting for other demons for our honeymoon! I'm sure Lord Mao would like a vacation too!" What was she so damn excited about?

"But Sapphire," Almaz said, looking at her with a pleading face, "looking after an entire Netherworld? Really? Isn't all of this a bit too much too handle?"

Sapphire planted her fists firmly on her hips and grinned at her husband. "Nope."

"And that settles it. See ya!" Laharl turned around and made to leave the couple in the throne room, but Almaz quickly ran around him and stood in his way. Laharl grunted in annoyance. "What now, hero?"

"Can't you get someone else instead? Y'know, someone who's more… demon? And… _not_ on a honeymoon?" If it hadn't been clear before, then it was now transparent that Almaz really didn't want to do this. Oh well. He had no choice. (=3)

"The only demon available is that raspberry one."

"You mean Miss Beryl, Lord Laharl?" Sapphire asked. Laharl nodded.

"And if I wanted everyone to turn into… what do you call them over there… 'delinquents' like her, I would've waited for the love freak to get back." Laharl saw the hero open his mouth to speak. Before another word could come from his mouth, the overlord's red scarf scooped the human up and over Laharl's head. He heard Almaz land behind him with a _THUD_ and smirked. "And with that, I'll be leaving. Enjoy your cameo!"

Before Almaz could protest again, and before Sapphire could try and attack him for tossing her husband aside, Laharl had already shut the door behind him.

* * *

"Ah, Overlord Laharl," the Gatekeeper greeted, bowing when Laharl approached. The portal behind her pulsed with a familiar blue energy, and he could glimpse a distorted image within it. "I have finished with preparation and I can say that I will be able to keep it open for as long as you wish."

"Good." Laharl wasn't used to praising his vassals, but thanks to a certain fallen angel it just slipped out. Whatever. He was too focused on his vacation to take his praise back. His scarf reached out and dropped something in the cleric's hands.

"…A messenger orb, my lord?" she asked, looking at the clouded, grey sphere. _(Da-da-da-DAAA! I made up an object!)_

Laharl nodded, quickly showing her his own, an orb similar to hers, before hiding it in his scarf. "I'll contact you with it when I'm on the other side of the gate. Make sure it's shut tight, got it?"

The Gatekeeper looked at him with her squinted eyes. "May I ask why, Your Majesty?"

"Why else?" Laharl stepped in front of the swirling gate, ready to go through. "The last thing I want is someone getting through from that side. Especially if…" The overlord sighed, his antennae twitching at the thought. "…I'm leaving the Netherworld to a couple of humans. Well-levelled humans, but still."

"Ah. I understand, my lord."

"Good." Without taking another look behind him, Laharl leapt into the portal.

It was pretty much same old, same old with the gate. Just a few moments of rushing through a sci-fi opening effect sequence and he was on the other side. Laharl planted his feet on the stone floor that lay on the other side and exited the gate.

"Alright, close it," he muttered to the glowing object tucked into his scarf. After a polite reply, the Dimensional Gate began to shut, and as it did so, Laharl scanned the room he had entered.

Well, it wasn't so much a room as it was a hallway. A pretty dark hallway too. There was a long red carpet that stretched from one end to the other (both ends had giant wooden doors with bolts and matching emblems painted on them, how original ¬ ¬;) and matched the red drapes that hung all over the place. The wall on Laharl's right was mostly stone with paintings of ferocious-looking demons and monsters, while the wall to his left was a line of huge arched windows.

"Gee, I wonder if I'm in a castle," Laharl muttered to himself, wandering over to an open window for a look outside. Meh, you see one castle, you've seen them all, I guess.

He leaned out one of the window to gaze at the view below, and his antennae perked up with interest. Along with more parts of the crooked (yet surprisingly stable) castle, there was a deep abyss of fog and smoke below. Laharl squinted and managed to spot the tiny dots of light from, presumably, a village, and it looked like it was a good few miles from the castle itself. A castle on top of an extremely high cliff. That was new. Especially since, now that Laharl thought about it, the castle was so close to the moon that the glare was hurting his eyes.

_Now, what else is there?_ Laharl turned away from the window and took another look around. He was starting to get irritated from the possibility that there wasn't much else to this Netherworld and he'd have to go back home in less than an hour. That would _not_ make him happy for a waste of time. All that needed to happen was something interesting.

…_Creeeeeeaaaaak…_

Laharl whirled around to see one of the giant doors slowly shutting itself eerily, as though someone had just come through it. Great, he wasn't alone. This either meant an annoying boss battle or an annoying addition to his team (and the chances were unfortunately 50/50). There was a movement in the air behind him, and he felt it in time to whirl back around and catch something big and sharp in his hand (overlord reflexes are awesome like that). On closer examination, Laharl identified the weapon as one side of a big axe with a blade on either side of its head, and his eyes followed the length of the weapon's handle to see his attacker's face.

"Pretty good," he taunted, shoving the axe away from him. "But not good enough."

A demon girl, somewhere between Etna and Flonne's height, was standing a couple of feet away from him. She had long, thin green pigtails that reached all the way down to her ankles, a big black coat (that lacked detail and appeared to be bland) and red eyes that were glaring at him. The girl raised the huge axe above her head with ease and readied to swing again.

"Shut up, shortie!"

**

* * *

**

**?:** Next time on _Super Battle Queen Champion!_ The next round of the Intergalactic Brawl Tournament is about to begin, but Cupid's arrow has struck at the worst possible time!  
**Laharl:** Hey, hold on, who the hell are you?  
**?: **Our heroine has fallen for another contestant, and then the flowers of love started to bloom!  
**Laharl:** You! Author! Is she your OC?  
**Witchey:** (sigh) Don't bring me into this. The last thing I need is self-insertion.  
**?:** But! When the pairings for the next round are announced, she must meet her crush IN THE ARENA!  
**Laharl:** HEY! Don't leave me with the questions marks, you no good internet slacker!  
**?:** Will she throw in the towel for the sake of love, or will she pulverise him to save the family construction site like she originally meant to do?  
**Witchey:** Why don't you and the readers just put up with her?  
**Laharl:** Do you realise how stupid that sounds?  
**?: **Aw, c'mon, Harlie, it'll be fun!  
**Laharl:** What did you just call me?  
**?:** Next chapter! _Someone Else Calls The Shots! The defeat of Overlord Laharl!  
_**Laharl:** WHAAAT?  
**Witchey:** Uh, ignore her, she's crazy.

* * *

Yeah… the last part was stupid. DX

So, feedback / reviews / whatever are appreciated and I hope you guys like the first chapter. I wonder what Flonne and Etna meant by spaceships and pirates… hmm…

Later Days!


	2. Someone Else Calls The Shots

Like I said before, feedback is appreciated. After all, how else will I prevent my OCs from being Mary-Sues / Gary Stus / White Haired Pretty Boys… wait, what?

Also, is anyone interested with the fact that Almaz and Sapphire are castle-sitting for Laharl? XD

**DISCLAIMER:** Disgaea = not mine. OCs = mine. That is the basic math of this fanfic.

EDIT: 23 / 11 / 10: Fixed misspellings and grammar, tweaked some lines.

* * *

Someone Else Calls The Shots

And we begin this chapter by repeating the last two lines from the previous one, 'cause I'm lazy like that =P.

The girl raised the huge axe above her head with ease and readied to swing again.

"Shut up, shortie!" she snapped, bringing it down to smash him into the ground. Instead, her axe just smashed into the floor, creating a giant crack in the stone floor. Before she could make even the smallest movement with her body, Laharl's sword smashed into her from the side and sent the girl flying into the wall.

Laharl stood in the window with his blade resting on his shoulder. He smirked at the green-haired demon as she climbed out of the resulting dent of the previous impact.

"THAT was for calling me short." A boss battle it was, then.

The girl gripped her axe and held it out in front of her, keeping her guard up. Laharl knew it wouldn't do much, but he might as well humour her.

"You're pretty strong for your size, I'll give you that," she growled. The girl made a dash towards him to try dealing another blow. "But I'm NOT letting you GET AWAY WITH THAT!"

"Doubt it!"

Laharl jumped up as the axe was swung for a third time. The momentum caused the girl to stumble up onto the windowsill and, just for good measure, Laharl kicked her from behind as he came back down to the floor. The green-hair fell out through the window with an angry growl as the blue-hair turned away, smug.

"Well that was quick."

_CLANG!_

"Hm?"

He looked back around to see that the axe had been firmly slammed into the stone of the windowsill, and the girl had swung herself over the handle. She threw herself back into the hallway, pulling the axe out of place as she went, and as she went through the air, her feet kicked out and smacked Laharl right in the face, knocking him into the rubble she been had thrown into earlier.

"Spoke too soon," she teased, her bulky black boots making a _thud!_ as she landed on the floor.

Laharl, now pissed, practically exploded from the rubble with a giant ball of energy held above his head. "That's it! Screw the child's play!"

With that, he threw the energy straight towards the girl. She hurled herself up towards the ceiling and slammed the head of the axe into it so the handle acted as a branch of safety as the hallway shook from the attack. When everything was still, she looked down at the floor, only to see it wasn't there anymore. A huge hole had been formed below her, taking away not only the floor but a big chunk of the wall and windows too. She looked shocked at the view of the abyss below.

_That was way too strong just for someone high-levelled. Does that mean… he's an overlord?_

"Hey!" Laharl yelled, grabbing his sword and readying a fireball in his fist. "Get down here and finish the fight, you coward!"

"You're kidding, right?" she yelled back, disconnecting her axe from the ceiling and landing at the edge of the hole. The girl turned to face him and flipped one of her pigtails back over her shoulder. "I'm NOT a COWARD! You expect me to fight an overlord as a first boss? At MY level? That's bullcrap! Come back when I'm stronger!"

Laharl just looked at her in astonishment. He was astonished that what she just said sounded so _stupid_. "Well maybe you should've thought about that _before_ you attacked me!"

"…You should still come back when I'm stronger."

"Nope. Say your prayers!"

Laharl was ready to wipe the floor with her. After all, he had the advantage of being an all-powerful overlord and she was, assuming from what she said, a novice. So he expected nothing short of an overkill victory.

But that's when _it_ happened. A thin, silver lance shot past his arm and grazed his skin. It pierced into some of the rubble he stood next to while he reached to cover the graze. "Ow! What the hell?" Laharl looked at it to see something purple and oily within the graze, mixing with the blood. Even though he felt dizzy, he was still determined to end the fight, especially after this cheap move. He grabbed his sword and pointed it at the girl, slightly unsteady on his feet. "You cheating coward! You… you think a little poison's gonna… save your - "

Two sudden jabs to his back, precise and painful, sent him smacking face first onto the wrecked carpet, unable to move. And everything went black.

* * *

When he started to regain consciousness, Laharl felt different. He couldn't put his finger on it _exactly_, but there was something missing. Something important. He moved his hand up to his neck, but his scarf was still there. Then he moved it to his head and ruffled his hair until he found his antennae. Then, with some effort, Laharl sat up (now noticing that his muscles were aching) and checked his overall appearance. Shorts, shoes, gold cuff things around his wrists, yep, everything looked normal. He even took a quick peek under his scarf to check on what hung around his neck. Nope, that was still there. Then what was wrong?

"You're up." Laharl looked in the direction of the voice that stated the obvious. It was that girl again. She was leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed, and she looked pretty smug. It was strange, since last he remembered she had been gaping at the huge-ass hole he made in the hallway. "So, how was your nap?"

Laharl's sword and the girl's axe collided in milliseconds when he shot across the room. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS _THIS_ FOR?" she yelled back, as both demons struggled to repel each other's weapon. They both glared into the other's eyes as the anger kept rising.

"Well let's see; you attack me, you chicken out, you POISON me, and now you're acting all smug!"

"I did NOT chicken out! I ordered you to come back for a boss fight later!"

"No chance that would happen!" Laharl's blade won the weapon clash and the axe was knocked out of the way. He lunged forward and pinned the girl's neck between the wall and his sword. "Now apologise and your death will be nice and quick, got it?"

"Vassal!" the girl shouted, grinding her fangs together as she looked at something behind Laharl. She was more pissed than scared, which sort of annoyed Laharl. He wanted fear. "You're _supposed_ to do something here!"

"…Very well, my lady." The blue-hair felt something sharp prod lightly at his back. He looked behind him with a sideways glance (that stupid girl could pull another trick when he wasn't looking), and found that a maid was holding a spear to his back. She was a tall, middle aged demon with waist-length blonde hair, and she was wearing a maid's outfit (black & white with puffy sleeves and a hem that just barely shows her ankles, to those 'fantasising' out there). She lacked any expression when she said, "Sir, I humbly request that you cease and desist, and release Her Highness immediately."

"OH COME ON! If he threatens your master like that you friggin' KILL HIM!" Laharl shot a glare at his prisoner. She was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Give me one good reason why I should let her go, maid?" he asked, getting ready to slice the girl's throat up.

The maid removed the spear from his back and curtsied before she answered. "For it was I who poisoned you, sir. My apologies."

"Well, that changes things." Laharl let the girl drop to the floor and aimed his sword at the maid now. He smirked. "This means I'll have to kill _you_ first, _then_ kill this brat."

"I am afraid that death is too high an improbability, sir," she began, but Laharl already attempting to cut her head off. He charged towards her to deliver a fatal blow, but in mid-delivery, she just caught his blade with her bare hand and stopped it just before it hit her neck. He froze and stared at the maid in surprise. "…for you see, I have the upper hand. Again, my apologies."

"…Th-the hell?" Laharl pulled his blade away from her and looked to his hand, refusing to believe a mere maid could just stop his attack like that. He focused, trying to recreate the devastating power he had used before… only to get the smallest flame possible in his palm. This was something kindergartners could do! Why was he suddenly so weak?

That's when he figured it out. The something that was missing. That little - ! He swung his blade at the girl again, but when she caught it she was clearly struggling with it, unlike the maid, yet she was still in one piece. Before she was more or less confessing she wouldn't be able to fight him, but now she was (slightly) able to hold her own. This just about confirmed things for him. "What did you do with all of my levels?"

"Stole them, duh!" the girl quipped, managing another smug little grin. She made him sick. "You didn't think I'd let you wake up with all of that power, did you?"

"Do you even KNOW how much grinding I had to do to make that much progress?" Laharl growled as his angry aura came back. This time he got just a hint of fear to make itself visible on the girl's face, which satisfied him a little. The bitch had stolen from him after all.

"Shut up! I kept them as leverage, so if you want them back then you'd better stop trying to kill me!"

He was ready to pulverise her, but didn't. He didn't because if Etna and Flonne were here, they'd tell him not to. Flonne, being the love freak that she was, would lecture him about how taking the life of someone was wrong, especially since the demon girl was a weaker level. And knowing Etna, she'd tell him to wait and hear the demon girl out… and _then_ kill her.

…Etna's reasoning won. Even if the maid killed him right afterwards, at least he would die satisfied with the job.

"…I'm listening," Laharl said reluctantly, hiding his sword within his scarf.

The girl straightened herself up and looked at him. She didn't have a smile on her face, so at least she wouldn't make him so sick anymore. "Maybe I shouldn't have left you at Lvl5," she mumbled.

"Maybe you should tell me where you hid them." Laharl watched as her smile came back. The sick feeling of despising her was back.

"I'll tell you. But…" Now her smile showed her fangs. Great, she was up to something. "…I'll only tell you if you do something for me in return."

"Or I could just kill you now and find them myself." Laharl checked over his shoulder in case the maid made some kind of reaction, but she just stood there with her blank expression. "Or I could just ask her where they are."

"Can't do that. _I'm_ the only one who knows where your levels are." Damn that smug look of hers. She was acting all high and mighty for someone at a lower level than him. "Besides, if you kill me, Vassal here will just kill you. She _has_ got enough experience from over 4000 years to wipe you out with just a tap, considering your current state."

"…" Laharl was trapped and she knew it. She _planned_ it. All he could do for now was play along. Or find some way of killing her. "Alright, what's your price?"

"You become my vassal."

"WHAT?"

The demon stepped back from the force of Laharl's outburst, wincing. He himself thought that that was probably the loudest he'd been in a while. Of course, she regained her composure quick enough. Bitch. "It's only temporary."

"I don't care! NO DEAL!" he yelled. One of the windows broke at the power of his voice, and the green-hair was starting to look a little cautious. If she knew what as good for her, she'd keep her guard up. And her maid in front of her at all times.

"Hey, I'm trying to be… ugh, _reasonable_ here. I've got something I want to do and I…" She hesitated, looking away and frowning off into empty space. "…and in order to do it the job requires me to have strong units of power."

"Then if you wanted me to be a 'strong unit of power'," Laharl said, trying to force down an angered growl at the air quoted area, "why didn't you let me keep my levels in the first place?"

"Because you would have killed me otherwise."

"Damn straight." Laharl nearly gagged. They were agreeing on something. Crap.

"It doesn't matter anyway. You're an overlord with badass Specials, am I right?" the demon asked, going back to that smugness of hers once again. She would look so much better with her face _burned off_.

"Yeah, but they're missing levels too, _remember_?"

"Well, if you want them back, then you'll help me. And once I've done my job, you'll get all of your levels back safe and sound. And your weapon's levels."

"…You… stole them _too_?"

"You want them back or not?"

Laharl glared at her from behind his evil aura. He was _not_ happy with this. "You're an evil person. Stealing levels, blackmailing, enslaving others -"

"Where does the blackmailing part come in?" His aura got darker. The demon rolled her eyes. "I get it already, you think I'm evil."

"Yep. And that's why I'll work with you."

"…What?"

The overlord had to admit, this wasn't something he'd normally do. He would probably have the same dumbfounded look as the demon girl in front of him were he not being honest with himself. Geez, he had changed so much since five years ago. Damn Flonne.

"You're evil and I respect you for that. But I'll only help you if you _promise_ to give me back my levels immediately after this job of yours." Yes, Laharl respected this girl he was hating so much right now, but he was smart enough to know that killing her should be kept as Plan B. Respect or no respect, he was still a very pissed off demon.

"...Aren't… a-aren't 'respect' and 'promises' a little undemon-like, shortie?" At least something good came from his words. She was finding it hard to regain her composure. But she was looking a little pissed off herself. "A-and you're not working _with_ me, you're working _for_ me!"

"Do we have a deal or not?" Laharl asked, getting impatient. When she wasn't being a smug little brat, she was being an _annoying_ little brat.

The demon girl tossed one of her pigtails over her shoulder and turned her back on Laharl. "Yeah, fine, whatever. This job gets done and you get your levels back."

"Are you gonna hold your end of the deal?" Laharl asked as she made her way out of the room. She stopped and looked back at him with a smirk

"Don't you trust me?"

"_Now_ who's being undemon-like?" he countered. It was his turn to be smug, and damn did it feel good to get the upper hand in this conversation.

"Shut up!" The girl shot him a death glare before stomping out of the room angrily. "Damned shortie!"

"You keep my height out of this!" Laharl's scarf reached towards the door and pulled it shut. He sighed, exhausted from the mess he had wound up in, and turned back towards the bed he had been lying unconscious on before. But he saw the silent maid and nearly jumped to the ceiling. How did he forget that she was there? …And was she really that creepy to make _him_ jump in surprise?

"I shall make my leave, sir," she said formally, curtseying. The maid took her weapon and made to leave, but Laharl raised a hand to stop her.

_I might as well get some information out of her. I don't even know that brat's name._

"Is there something you wish, sir?"

"Yeah. Who the hell is that girl?" Laharl asked, crossing his arms. He watched the maid carefully for any kind of change in facial expression as she answered him.

"Lady Axis, sir. She is my master and a resident of this castle."

She was like a robot. The only things that moved were her eyes (she had to blink) and her mouth (she was talking). He wouldn't be able to identify how the maid thought of 'Axis' this way, so no info about the brat's personality. Other than 'brat'. So for now Laharl would just assume that Axis was an angry brat. Time for the next question.

"And exactly what is this job she needs me for? Is she planning an invasion somewhere?"

"No, sir. My lady has plans to overthrow the overlord of the Netherworld and take the throne herself."

Overthrow the overlord? Interesting. Then again, she seemed evil enough for the job already. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that this scenario seemed just a tad familiar. It was something the maid herself had said earlier. 'Her Highness'. "Who's the overlord of this Netherworld?"

The maid answered his question in the same formal monotone she had been using all this time. "His Majesty is known as Overlord Aldric. Father of Prince Dyson and Princess Axis, and ruler of the Netherworld."

* * *

**?:** It's time for a peak at _Prinny Slayer Z!_ The fearsome Prinnies of Netherworld X49 have set their plans in motion! Universal domination is at their flippertips!  
**Prinny:** Dood, we're the bad guys? ='(  
**?:** The device has been activated and all hope seems lost, until Zor-ro-ro Zo-zo-ro comes to save the day!  
**Laharl:** Ah, crap, she's doing it again.  
**Witchey:** Relax, she'll get bored soon.  
**?:** The ultimate Slayer of Prinnies shall vanquish the penguin-shaped evil and leave no mercy for their souls!  
**Prinny:** D-d-dood, this is a horror movie! D'=  
**Laharl:** You know at this rate the Prinnies will be too scared to do any work for us, right?  
**Axis: **Why aren't you doing any chores, Vassal?  
**Laharl:** 'Chores' were NOT part of the deal!  
**?:** Next time on Endless Nights! _An Accidental Bond! The demon princess gets struck by karma!_  
**Laharl:** Haaaaaahahahahaha!  
**Axis:** I ORDER YOU TO STOP LAUGHING!

* * *

The last part is still stupid, but I do it anyway. It's fun. =P

Later Days!


	3. An Accidental Bond

For anyone who would like to see what Axis looks like, there's a link to my DeviantArt account on my FF profile. By the time this chapter has been posted, her picture should be up. =)

**DISCLAIMER:** The Disgaea series, including its characters, cameos and various other things of greatness, belongs to Nippon Ichi. Anyone who says otherwise shall be hunted down by Axis and get their levels stolen. (She cheats like that =P)

EDITED 29 / 11 / 10 – Fixed spelling errors and grammar mistakes, tweaked some things here and there, not really anything big.

* * *

An Accidental Bond

"Are you gonna hold your end of the deal?" She stopped and looked back at her new vassal, giving him a smirk.

"Don't you trust me?"

"_Now_ who's being undemon-like?" The boy folded his arms and gave her an 'I win' smile. Axis balled her hands into fists, tempted to just lash back and attack him.

"Shut up!" Somehow dodging the temptation, Axis turned her back to him and her other vassal. She stomped out of the guest room whilst grinding her fangs together. "Damned shortie!"

"You keep my height out of this!"

_SLAM_!

She flinched and swerved around to stare at the closed door with rage. How dare he? He accused her of not acting like a demon. Ridiculous! She was a role model! SHE was one of the very examples of being a demon! Not many demons would lock their whole heart up, after all! (Everyone else in the Netherworld was too chicken. Bleh.)

Still fuming, Axis turned back around and kept walking down the hallway. That is, she began to walk, but she was stopped. A stupid Prinny collided with her legs and was knocked to the floor, along with whatever he was holding, and Axis tripped over said Prinny and landed face-first on the carpet. Such incompetence from a vassal was disgusting.

"Sorry, dood! It's pretty dark down here, don't you think, dood?"

Axis shoved her hands to the floor and shot up to glare at the Prinny. Again, such incompetence. "You've made a big mistake."

The servant of the castle looked up and just now saw who he had bumped into. Of course he started doing some weird panic-dance as he spat out his excuse. "Lady Axis! I'm sorry, dood, forgive me! The torches weren't lit and I couldn't see so well and I had all the food and I couldn't see over the weird lid thing for the tray and –"

The princess loomed over the Prinny as he kept babbling. She was really pissed, since she could barely see him though her glowing red eyes. "Shut. Up."

"Y-yes, Lady – " She didn't let him finished, as she had grabbed him by the scruff of his doll-like shell.

"What did I just order you to do?" Axis asked him. The Prinny gulped and started to sweat under her gaze. "What exactly are these stains on my clothes?"

There were dark patches on her clothes, and her pigtails were dripping with a mixture of different liquids. The Prinny pointed at the mess he had spilled on the floor. A silver tray and its domed lid were lying on the carpet, and the food that had been on it (some kind of meat with gravy and a glass of water or something) was all spilled out in a big mess. Axis switched her attention back to the vassal.

"Why are you carrying food up here, Vassal?"

The Prinny was prompt with his answer. "M-Miss Beatrice sent me t-to bring some food to the guest in this room, dood!"

Axis felt her body twitch from the anger boost. "Vassal sent you up here? Without MY permission?"

"…"

"ANSWER!"

"Y-y-yes, Lady Axis, dood!" Geez, that maid really knew how to push her buttons. "F-forgive me, dood! B-but Miss Beatrice didn't want the guest she mentioned to go hungry!"

"…"

"…Lady Axis, doo – AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Axis threw the Prinny over her shoulder so that he could just explode already. It wasn't like the castle didn't have enough Prinnies to do grunt work.

…Wait, where was the -

_BOOM!_

_Better._

Then a hollow sound came to her ear, and she looked over her shoulder to investigate. An old vase was wobbling and ready to fall from its pedestal, knocked off balance by the small explosion. That hit the panic button. Axis extended her hand out towards the vase. "Catch it!"

A stream of the coat shot out from her sleeve, like fingers of shadows, and caught the falling vase before it could smash onto the floor. The wisp lifted it up and placed it steadily back on the pedestal, making sure it was balanced again before it pulled itself back into the edges of the sleeve it came from.

"Damn Prinnies," Axis muttered, waiting for the wisp to fully return. The last thing this day needed was for the contents of that vase to be released. Honestly, couldn't that dust be kept in something more secure?

"My lady?" Just the vassal she wanted to snap at. Axis frowned from a sideways stance at the maid who stood just outside the door. She wasn't looking questioning or confused at the state of the area (she never had an expression other than that brainless blank face of hers). She just stood there and waited for her master to say something.

"Explain this." Axis pointed at all the food on the floor.

"Food, my lady."

The vassal was playing dumb with her. Bad choice. Axis reached into her coat and pulled out her axe _(I'll mention now that it's about 1 & ½ her height, I know, OVERSIZED WEAPONS FTW!)_, then she aimed it towards the maid. "Not the answer I want, Vassal."

"Of course, my lady," the maid answered, bowing her head briefly. "I requested that a meal be brought up for our guest, so that he might have something to eat."

"First, he's not a guest, he's a _vassal_," Axis growled. Her eyes were started to glow again. "And second, why didn't you ask ME first?"

"I do not wish to predict you intentions, my lady, but I believed that you would not wish for your new teammate to be without energy in possible future combat," was the answer.

"He's a VASSAL, Vassal!"

"As you say, my lady."

With a long, agitated growl, Axis slipped the axe back into her coat and turned her back on the maid. Screw it, she'd save this for later. Right now she was covered in gravy and meat juice and water, and it did _not_ feel comfortable.

"I'm taking a bath. Vassal, you clean this mess up." She gave the maid a quick glance over the shoulder. "Oh, and just so we're clear, I give you permission _this time_ to feed the new guy. You'd _better_ ask in the future." Axis walked down the hallway and took the first left, flipping a soggy pigtail out behind her.

_

* * *

_

Poke, poke.

"Shh."

_Poke, poke, poke._

"Stop it."

…

…_Poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke -_

"Simon, _enough already_!" Glen picked up the Geo Monster with his gloved hands and looked straight into its black, beady eyes. "I'm begging you, stop poking me! I'm trying to focus here, OK buddy?"

"Bbrrr," the little creature responded with, nodding. Glen put the little monster back down and looked over the edge of the roof. It was a really long drop from all the way up here. One false move, and the thief would be plummeting to a very messy death.

He gulped and chose to shift his eyes from the chasm to the huge windows right beneath him. This was the only safe way into the castle. He learned the hard way that some of the 'ventilation shafts' lead to a big ass furnace (that was raging hot) and that those demonic hounds guarding other possible entrances were very hungry.

…Now that Glen thought about it, he hadn't checked to see if this way was safe at all. He looked back to Simon, who was hopping from one foot to the other. "Uh, Simon? Mind scouting ahead?"

The monster nodded and hopped into Glen's arms. He chuckled, took hold of Simon's ears and slowly lowered him over the edge of the roof. Glen silently prayed that he wouldn't drop his little friend to the space below. Simon dangled and peered through the archway of the giant window.

"Is the coast clear?" Simon peered up and lifted one of his little arms. Glen took that as a yes and pulled Simon back up. "Then let's get moving."

* * *

Axis lay at the bottom of the huge bathtub in her bathroom, frowning angrily at the ceiling from beneath the water. Stupid vassals. Stupid food. Stupid vase. Typically, her day had been nothing but annoying. The only 'plus' she had for this day was the fact that she now had a powerful overlord as her vassal. She smirked at the thought.

_Aldric had better watch his back. My plan's already in motion, after all._

Then, after mulling it over, Axis realised that there was a vital part to her plan that she was missing: her levels. Unfortunately for Axis, her grinding had not been going well. Sure, she had an A rank for her axe skills and a good knowledge of spells and stats and such, but she was startlingly under-levelled for someone of her skill and age.

She frowned as she tried to come up with a solution. Grinding with her vassals was too easy. One toss and they were dead. The maid was no good. Axis could hardly tolerate her as a vassal, let alone a grinding dummy.

_Maybe the 'vassal-lord' would let me beat him up a couple of times. _As Axis grinned at the thought of beating the short one to a pulp, some air bubbles escaped her mouth and flitted to the surface._ After all, I've got his levels, so he _has_ to do what I -_

Axis stiffened and her thoughts ceased. A strange feeling alerted her senses, and she thought over what it could be. Was it… her room's security spell?

"WHO _DARES_ ENTER MY ROOM?" Axis roared when she broke the surface of the bathwater, her wet hair flaring up around her like angry flames.

* * *

After hastily pulling her dress and coat back on, Axis flew out of the bathroom and through the maze of hallways to her room. She had her axe already prepared, ready to kill whoever was _stupid_ enough to even _think_ about breaking into _her_ room!

_BANG! SLAM!_

The doors to her room swung on their hinges as she burst in, and she charged with her axe swinging at the figure near her desk. They dodged out of the way just in time (damnit), and the giant blade smashed her desk to nothing but splinters.

"What the - ! Simon, run!"

Axis turned on her heel and charged after the vacating trespasser, seeing nothing but dark shapes through her burning red vision. She swung at them countless times, but the figure she was aiming for kept dodging out of the way. Why wouldn't they give up and be slaughtered already?

"Simon, get back here! You'll get yourself - "

_SMASH!_

Something fragile broke somewhere nearby and a cloud of a sweet scent filled the air. It was sweet, but painfully strong. Axis tried to swing at the figure once more, certain that she could kill them now, but the scent overwhelmed her and she fell to her knees, bursting into a fit of coughs. Damn, this stuff was burning her throat!

There was another string of coughing just a few feet away from her. The figure she had been chasing must have been overwhelmed as well. "Wha - *cough, cough* - ! Si - *cough* - Simon, wh - *cough, hack* - why did you break - *cough, cough* that thing?"

Axis looked up, her eyes cooling down from her tantrum, and looked at the state of the floor in front of her. There was a boy in front of her, a demon from the looks of it (pointed ears and fangs are kind of a giveaway in this universe), about her age as well. He had dark, scruffy and ridiculously big hair, tacky goggles, a hooded jacket with a bunch of zippers (your basic Square conventions, that sort of thing) –

"Oh - *cough* - f***," Axis coughed out.

There was a mess of bright yellow powder covering the carpet, the boy and, from the looks of her sleeves, herself. That vase had been broken.

"*Cough*. Simon - *cough, cough* - you're o - *haaack* - o-okay, right?"

Axis gripped the dress material that covered her chest. Inside it, she felt an uncomfortable and nauseating feeling from the second this boy showed… ugh, what was that word again? 'Concern'? Eww, that just made her even more sick. With her anger rekindled, she leapt up and grabbed the boy by the scruff of his jacket, her vision tinting itself to red again. "YOU. F***ING. IDIOT."

"What, what did I do?" His voice heightened in pitch and some horror came to his expression (with a hint of confusion in there as well). Another uneasy feeling came up in Axis's chest, luckily not as nauseating as before. This was bad, _Very_ bad. Then a small Geo Monster landed on the boy's shoulder, looking disgustingly cute and oblivious. 'Simon', she assumed.

"YOU. LITTLE. IDIOT!" Axis grabbed her axe and tried to swing at the little pest, but the boy quickly grabbed it and jumped out of the way. Her axe hit the ground and sent all of the powder floating into the air again, started another round of gags. "Do you *cough, gag* realize what that *haaack* _pet_ of yours did?"

"Hey, Simon's not a pet, he's my - "

"DON'T. SAY IT." Axis looked at the boy from behind her reddening eyes. "This stuff wasn't meant to be released! And that pest just thoroughly screwed me over! He's ruined EVERYTHING!"

The boy hid the creature behind his back and frowned down at Axis. Only now did she notice that he was about a head or two taller than her. "Well maybe you shouldn't 've chased after us." Idiot. He was a big fat idiot.

"Well maybe _you_ shouldn't have BROKEN INTO MY ROOM. Do you even _know_ what's just happened to us?" Axis pointed a finger at all of the brightly coloured powder on the floor, fighting the urge to cough up more of its sickly sweetness. "It's. Destiny. Dust."

"…Destiny Dust?" he asked, with an idiotic look of an idiot on his face. Idiot. "What's that?"

Axis lifted the axe and slammed the head of it into the spot next to the demon boy. It was pointless, but she had to do something to prevent herself from killing him there and then. "It's a _binding_ ingredient, you nimrod!"

"B-binding ingredient?" Ah, so he could think after all. He looked (and felt) pretty much horrified as it dawned on him what the dust had just done to them. "You mean… you mean we're - "

Axis shot right up to his face and held the edge of her axe's blade beneath his neck. "Tell anyone and I'll kill you. With or without the consequences."

"…Then I… guess I should just leave, right?"

With the deadliest glare she could come up with, Axis grabbed him by the collar of his jacket again. "You're not going anywhere, 'vassal'."

* * *

Laharl looked at the ceiling above as he heard the ruckus going on. Geez, this Axis girl was loud when she was pissed. He could barely hear himself plot his revenge, after all! (The hell was going on, anyway?)

_If only I could get in contact with my own Netherworld. Maybe then I could get some reinforcements… Wait, I _can_ do that._

He pulled the messenger orb out of his scarf and was about to get in touch with the gatekeeper. Perfect, he finally mastered that trope. 'Deux ex Machina' or something, right? But then he hesitated before activating the little sphere. He couldn't just call up right _now_. How would all of his vassals react when they heard that their all-powerful overlord was now Lvl5? Not to mention the fact that a whole bunch of demons would come and kill him in a heartbeat to get to the throne.

"…This. Is. Hell." Laharl slipped the orb back into his scarf and folded his arms. It didn't help his attitude that this guest room had a bed instead of a coffin. It wasn't too comfortable to sit on, for one thing.

_BANG!_

Laharl stiffened and glared at the open doors of the room. Great, the pigtailed bitch was back… and dragging some guy along the floor behind her? Axis, without so much as a glance at Laharl (such an ignorant brat), tossed the new demon boy into the room.

"Vassal, meet Vassal, your new roommate. See you asses tomorrow," she called over her shoulder as she turned around and walked away. Laharl would have chased after her to protest (and by protest, he meant throw her out the window), but the doors slammed back shut behind her. Smug little bitch.

"…Soooo…"

Laharl turned his attention away from the door and to the poor sap sitting on the floor. "Yeah, what do you want?"

"Um… so, I'm Glen, and this is Simon," Glen introduced. "You been working for her long?"

Laharl was a little 'weirded' out when he saw Simon, a Geo Monster it seemed, hopping about on the demon boy's head. _…Don't ask, Laharl… just don't ask…_

* * *

**?:** In the next chapter of Endless Nights! A bold hero emerges from the shadows of doubt and reveals himself to the band of demons!  
**Laharl:** Hey, author, she's at it again!  
**?:** With his sword in hand, he shall liberate the Netherworld from the clutches of the Overlord and his family of evil!  
**Axis:** Hellooooo, author? Respond! I order you to!  
**Glen:** Are we really meant to be breaking the 4th wall? Guys?  
**?:** Who shall be the first to fall? Will it be the mighty Overlord Laharl, the ambitious Princess Axis, or the cowardly thief Glen?  
**Glen:** What's going on? And why am I 'cowardly'?  
**Laharl:** Shut up and wait for the preview to finish.  
**Axis: **From the sounds of it, it's a really stupid one.  
**Laharl:** For once, I agree with you.  
**Axis: **Then I order you to disagree! DO IT, VASSAL!  
**?:** Next time! _A Flimsy Hero! The demons must face their first boss battle!_  
**Laharl:** …Wait, this is REAL preview?  
**Axis:** …Oh, f***.  
**Glen:** Seriously, guys, what's going on?

* * *

Darn, Laharl can't use his plot device to get backup. Damned manly pride. DX

Also, thumbs up for Simon the Geo Monster? *Hugs Simon*

Later Days


	4. A Flimsy Hero

Fear not, people-who-bother-reading-this-crap, the plot shall be here soon! And hopefully, some actual characters from Disgaea will enter! …

…or not…

…Anyone want a cookie?

**DISCLAIMER:** Simon the Geo Monster shall defeat you with the power of his cute and comedic role should you dare to claim that anyone else owns Disgaea other than the great Nippon Ichi! …Or something like that.

EDIT 29 / 11 / 10 – Fixed spelling errors, altered some lines to keep everyone in character, grammar mistakes and such.

* * *

A Flimsy Hero

Laharl couldn't help it that his eye was twitching so much.

"Kkhhhaaaa…"

"Ppprrrrr…"

"Kkhhhaaaa…"

"Ppprrrrr…"

"Kkhhhaaaa…"

It was perfectly justified. After all, how would you feel if you had a roommate forced upon you, who happened to perform synchronised snoring with their pet? Very loudly, might I add. All. Frickin'. Night. _Long_.

And what made it worse was the fact that Laharl could predict that the brat would shove any complaints back in his face whilst mentioning his captive levels at least once. Maybe he could just throw 'Glen' out the window. And his little Geo Monster too. Then maybe he could get some sleep. What happened to the times when he could have a peaceful sleep without any interruptions?

…Oh yeah, that happened _yesterday_. Damn Etna and Flonne.

"Kkhhhaaaa…"

"Ppprrrrr…"

"Kkhhhaa – "

_That's it._ Laharl conjured a small sphere of dark energy and tossed it towards the floor.

"KkhhhaaaOW!"

"Prr?"

He smirked as the thief jumped up from the ground, patting at the spark of flame on his nest of dark hair. This guy was pathetic. A smartass, yes, as well as greedy (Laharl noticed Glen take a couple of things and slip them in his pocket). But yeah, Glen was still pathetic.

"Geez, what the hell was that for?"

"You were snoring."

Glen frowned at Laharl as he dusted his clothes off from being on the floor all night. "Couldn't you have woken me up a nicer way than that?"

"I don't do nice," Laharl informed him, lying back down on the bed with his hands behind his head. With the lack of snoring, maybe now he could get some sleep.

Of course, things weren't going his way lately, so it wasn't a surprise that something else would prevent his slumber. Simon, the annoying little creature who got tossed in here with Glen, chose now to hop on Laharl's own head. He glared up at Simon from under his fringe. "You're on thin ice. Don't push it."

"Simon, get over here!" Glen hissed. He must have sensed some kind of murderous vibe from Laharl, because he sounded desperate. Simon would live though, because the Geo Monster jumped off the head of blue hair and onto Glen's shoulder almost immediately. Damn, Laharl wanted to kill something. Maybe he should've skipped the warning? "How early is it?"

"What?"

Glen was looking at the closed window on the other side of the room. Laharl didn't need to look, because he knew it was still dark. "It isn't even light out."

"See that clock over there?" Laharl's red scarf twitched and pointed in the direction of an expensive-looking dresser. When his roommate looked at the clock, the thief's face managed to get an amused smirk on Laharl's face.

"Ten thirty? As in morning?"

"Yep."

"But it's dark outside!"

"I know."

"And the moon's still out?"

"I know."

"And what about - "

"I KNOW." Laharl rolled on his side so that his back was turned to Glen. He clamped his eyes shut and covered his head with a pillow. "Now keep it down. I need sleep."

"…Ppprrrr?"

"Gah! Simon, don't play with that, it's valuable! We could sell that for a fortune!"

Laharl growled and clenched his fist to warm up another mini-sphere of Overlord's Wrath. That was it, he was SO gonna kill –

_Knock, knock, knock._

- whoever was knocking on the door. His target changed instantly as he sat upright and tossed his power at the door, blasting it open. The heavy wood broke from its hinges and hit the floor hard, revealing the Prinny on the other side. He was carrying a big silver tray with a round lid on his head, sweating like a pig as he slowly walked in. "B-b-breakfast, dood?"

_BOOM!_

* * *

Axis paced back and forth down in the Training Hall (or, being technical, 'the giant-ass-Training-Hall-with-a-bunch-of-level-grinding-crap-and stuff). What the hell was taking those idiots so long? She sent Vassal to summon them ages ago! Honestly, how did anyone expect her to get any grinding done without some kind of punching bag?

"My Lady." The princess whirled around to face the open doors of the room. Her maid was there in the doorway, and she was standing behind the two she had lead to the hall: the mighty overlord and the pathetic thief. She grimaced about the latter. How could a princess like _her_ get bound to someone like _him_?

"Alright, cheater," the one with blue hair managed through his long yawn as he took a couple of steps forward, "make this quick so I can get some sleep."

Axis shortened the distance between the royals until she was at arm's length, just so she could point her finger at his face up close (for no real reason). "You won't sleep unless I grant you permission, Vassal!"

"You could try addressing me with my proper title, 'princess'." His red scarf swatted Axis's hand away from his face, and Axis was starting to see everything in a red blur. "The name is Overlord La - "

"I didn't ask for your name, _Vassal_!" she interrupted him, turning her back on the overlord and stomping out into the rectangle of battleground in the centre of the room. Axis reached into her coat and pulled out her axe, and she rested it on her shoulder as she turned back to face the short demon. "And you're my vassal! You don't need a title if you can't live up to it!"

It gave her some amusement as the blue-hair glared at her through sleepy eyes. Axis switched her attention though, from him to her 'soul-bound other' (ew), who was trying to keep his little monster of annoyance from touching some nearby weapons. Perhaps that thing could run into a little 'accident' later. "You. Wimp."

"My name's Glen, remember?" the wimp asked, blowing some of his ridiculously scruffy hair from his face. He was still trying to restrain that damned Geo Monster. "C'mon, Axis, I told you only just - "

'Glen' was cut off by a spear flying by his head, narrowly missing his ear by a centimetre and piercing the wall behind him. Axis picked up another one from the floor beside her _(yay for convenient weapons of disposal?)_ and aimed it at him again, only just seeing his silhouette through the red haze of her vision _(this seems to happen a lot, huh?)_. "You will either call me 'Your Highness' or 'My Lady'. Any other way of addressing me, and I may be a great deal more unpleasant. Got it?"

"S-sure thing, My Lady!" Wimp.

"Hey, 'Your Bratness'." Axis looked back at the blue-haired demon. Even with his levels held hostage, this vassal wasn't going to be so obedient. Perhaps a good slaughtering was necessary for this one after all, to save all the trouble of listening to him talk back. "Any chance you're gonna tell us why we're down here?"

"My pleasure." She gripped the handle of her axe with both hands and got into a fighting stance. "_You're_ my grinding dummy."

"THE HELL I AM!" Axis flinched. Damn he was loud.

"As my vassal, you do what I say. And I say you're my grinding dummy!" Without giving him some kind of warning (he didn't deserve one), Axis flew across the field from her end to his end, ready to hack him up in two.

But somehow, the antenna boy countered her. The overlord dodged her axe, pulled out his sword and slammed it into her stomach, sending the princess flying back into a pile of broken weaponry. Axis, with a pain in her neck, kicked her way out of the pile and jumped back onto the field. That blue-haired demon bastard was just standing there yawning, and he hadn't even broken a sweat.

"I can see why you need to grind, 'princess'." There was a smug tone to his voice that angered Axis. She picked up her axe from the floor and got ready to take another shot at him.

"Shut up, Vassal!"

* * *

It was hours later, and Glen was still watching the two demons duke it out. Well, one of them was duking it out (Axis), the other was just knocking her away and countering with ease (the demon whose name he hadn't gotten yet). Grinding must not have been a regular thing for Axis, since she wasn't doing very well. Eventually his mind started to wander after watching the same events over and over again.

The thief didn't know a thing about the Destiny Dust, and he didn't know much about soul binding either. He'd only heard some rumours about bonds (a symptom being baldness, 'apparently'), but not enough to get a basic idea about it. Maybe if Axis just _told_ him _more_ about what happened, he'd get a clearer picture. It might even help figure out how to… um… un-bind them?

A familiar 'prrr' sound caught Glen's ear and he looked at the ground next to him. There was Simon (admittedly adorable as a bunny) with a black bowling ball on his head. Not exactly a safe 'toy' for him to play with, but at least it wasn't a machete or a machine gun this time. As long as it was blunt enough so as not to cut up the Geo Monster.

"Simon, no. You shouldn't be playing with anything in here," Glen began, picking up the bowling ball from the little monster's head. Then he got a closer look, and saw the sparking fuse sticking out of the bowling ball. "HOLY - "

Glen tossed the bomb as far away as possible, grabbed Simon and shuffled away from the loud 'BOOM' moments later. He took a peek and saw that a small pile of weapons were now nothing but specks of ash.

"…Prr?" Simon chirped, perking his ears up. Glen tried to manage a calm smile, but it ended up being a nervous one.

"I don't think this castle is safe for you, buddy."

"Do you wish to vacate this area, Sir Thief?" a voice spoke from behind them. Glen looked up from under his fringe at the maid standing above him. At this angle she looked strangely intimidating.

"No thanks, ma'am, I'm fine here." Besides, something was screaming at Glen that Axis might try to kill him for leaving without 'permission'.

"…" The maid made no reaction. She didn't turn her eyes away from Glen, even after the 1000th loud crash that kept coming from across the hall. "If you do not wish to leave, then is there perhaps anything I can do so that you are more comfortable – "

_CLANG!_

She caught a giant ninja star in her bare hand as more chaos sounded from behind them. " – in this environment?"

"…" Glen gawked at the ninja star for a while. How the freak did she see that thing coming? He felt Simon start to squirm in his arms and realised he still hadn't let the poor thing go. The little monster managed to dig his paw-hand things into on of Glen's pockets and, victorious, held a small packet of something in front of his nose for Glen to see. "…Cocoa?"

"Very well, Master Simon." The maid reached down and took the cocoa packet from Simon's paws / claws. She turned to leave.

"Wait," Glen said. The maid stopped and turned her attention back to him. He faltered (she was kinda scary in this light), but managed to get his question out. "What's your name?"

"…" The maid turned around fully to face him and gave Glen a curtsy. "Beatrice, Sir Thief."

"Cool. I'm Glen, by the way, so you don't have to call me 'Sir' or anything!" Glen babbled, trying to make friendly small talk. Beatrice straightened up from her curtsy.

"Of course, Sir Glen." And with that she left. Glen watched her leave, thinking that maybe giving people titles was a habit (she called Simon 'Master' after all).

_THUD!_

"VaaAAassaAAaal…"

_Axis?_ Glen shuffled around on the spot to look at the battlefield. His roommate was standing there, looking tired but unmarked, while Axis and her weapon were lying on the floor, both looking equally battered. Glen jumped up and walked over, lacing his fingers behind his scruffy-haired head. "Is the grinding over yet?"

"NO," Axis managed to cough out, tightening her hands into fists. She opened her angry eyes and shot a look at the blue-hair. "How many levels did I get?"

Glen's eyes went from one demon to the other, figuring out what they had gained after all of their work. When he finished checking, he instantly regretted it. Considering how competitive Axis seemed to be, she wasn't going to like –

"VASSAL."

"…You guys… both got some levels… but - "

"I win." The other demon boy yawned and tucked his sword back into his scarf, looking ready to fall asleep right at that moment. "Now I'm taking a nap."

"Not until I beat you!" Axis growled. "Wimpy Vassal, gimme something so I can heal! And make it - "

_BOOM!_

"AaaaaHA!"

Glen looked at the gaping hole on the other side of the huge area. The stones of the wall were scattered at the feet of a tall figure in the new opening. As the dust cleared, the moonlight from outside revealed the young adult in a big, crimson, gold-trimmed trench coat. His black hair was long and pulled back into a ponytail, and his eyes were blue and bright like a sunny sky. His clothes had an unnecessary amount of gold trimming, including his grey army boots, and in his hand was a thing, shiny rapier sword (a foil, right?).

"It appears Lady Luck hath found thee! Foulest of minions of thy dearest Overlord!" the man declared, gesturing his foil at the trio with a bunch of needless flourishes.

The demons remained quiet (except for Simon. "Prr?"). Finally Glen managed to put all of their feelings into words. "...The hell?"

The man (clearly a human, now that you thought about it, what demon would act like THIS?) strode into the room, a smug look on his face as he bowed before them. "Thou shalt be offered knowledge of the name I received at birth: Ace Maximus!" _(Feel free to gigglesnort if you wish)_ "Forgive this intrusion - " Ace looked at the three again and finally noticed how Axis was sprawled on the floor. His face suddenly burned with determination and he poked his foil in the direction of the other two. "What foul monsters would do such an unspeakable act to a young lady?"

"Wimpy Vassal… translate…"

"Uh… I think he said something about an ace… and he thinks we… beat you up?" (Which is _sort of_ true… only _one_ of them beat her up, after all)

Axis sat up and shot a death glare at the human. From the look on her face, she appeared to be insulted. "I call dibs on the killing blow."

* * *

**?:** Next time on _Happy-Go-Lucky Author!_ Marina the Witch finds herself at the top of her fame!  
**Witchey:** …Is she trying… to pull a self insertion?  
**Laharl:** Yep.  
**?:** After writing a _fabulous_ chapter, Marina must now juggle her art and her writing with her new spells and potions!  
**Glen:** Why is Witchey's eye twitching?  
**Laharl:** She senses a Sue in the force or something.  
**?:** How will she ever make her characters _original_ when she must focus on lessons at the Magic Academy?  
**Witchey:** Axis, gimme your axe for a second.  
**Axis:** And why should I, author?  
**Witchey: **Three words: Original. Character. DEATH.  
**Axis:** …Damn authors.  
**Laharl: **Zzzzzz…  
**?:** _Seeking the Overlord! We'll have the fight then, promise!_  
**Witchey:** YOU'D BETTER HOPE I DON'T CATCH YOU, YA BACKSTABBING LITTLE MONKEY!  
**?:** AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!  
**Etna:** She'd better remember to bring us in soon.  
**Flonne:** Yeah, I've been in the character tag for ages now!

* * *

Yeah, college work is gonna get in the way of my writing, as well as my drawing and gaming and AAAAARRRRGGGGHH! So I'm gonna try my best to finish up my chapters in the best amount of time. Sorry that they won't be so frequent.

Sorry if this chapter seems lazy, guys, but I wanted to update this as soon as possible. And also, ACE MAXIMUS! Ain't that just the cheesiest hero name ever? =D

Later Days!


	5. Seeking The Overlord

As I said before. College stuff. So, if the footer says something like "OMG I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG!", I'll just tell you when I started writing this. The day I uploaded the previous chapter.

**DISCLAIMER:** Simon the Geo Monster shall defeat you with the power of his cute and comedic role should you dare to claim that anyone else owns Disgaea other than the great Nippon Ichi! …Or something like that. (Yay for copy & pasting)

EDIT 30 / 11 / 10: Grammar, spelling errors, tweaks to keep OCs and CCs (Canon Characters) in character.

* * *

Seeking The Overlord

"Thou shalt be offered knowledge of the name I received at birth: Ace Maximus!" Axis gave the human nothing but a tired (and annoyed) sideways glance. This guy had just instantly dubbed himself with the knowledge of this name: Loser. "Forgive this intrusion - …What foul monsters would do such an unspeakable act to a young lady?"

The princess closed her eyes when the loser started to jab his foil at her vassals. "Wimpy Vassal… translate…"

"Uh… I think he said something about an ace… and he thinks we… beat you up?"

_WHAT?_ Axis was upright and glaring at the human in an instant. Did the loser imply that she could EVER be beaten by a couple of her own vassals? _(That's not true. She was beaten by_ one _=P)_ "I call dibs on the killing blow. Wimp, where's my heal?"

"My name is _Glen_, and I don't have anything."

She broke her glare with the loser to focus it on the wimp instead. That annoying little feeling in her chest was telling her something useful for once. "Liar."

The wimp looked at her with a mixed reaction. The only emotion in that reaction of his that Axis approved of was that hint of fear. Good. He _should_ be afraid. _Very_ afraid.

"My dear maiden, do not trust these foulest of the foul! Such demons are… demons!" the loser exclaimed, flourishing his foil again whilst extending his free hand to her. "Thou shalt haveth safer haven elsewhere!" _(Pffft, 'haveth'? Is that a real word or am I making it up? XD)_

"You're _really_ asking for a pulverising, aren't you?" she snapped back, whipping the healing item that 'Glen' held out for her. She took a look at it and grimaced. _"Caterpillar Egg_?"

"Hey, it's edible." Her wimpy servant folded his hands behind his head again. "And it's good for you too."

"I'd hit you for giving me this _trash_ if I weren't already occupied."

"No, my maiden! That substance may be - " Axis had already swallowed it down before the human loser could finish. " – poisoned!"

"Tasted like it," she said through gritted teeth, feeling disgusted. Ugh, if there was one thing she hated, it was weaklings. Caterpillar Eggs as _food_ came in a close second. She got up on her feet, admittedly feeling better than she had been before. And just because she felt like it, Axis wanted to do a quick check on the wimp's impression of her. "It _wasn't_ poisoned, _was_ it, _vassal_?" _(Wow, a lot of emphasis there.)_

"N-no, of course not!" was the wimp's response. The squeak in his voice and the tightening in Axis's chest was enough to entertain her for now.

Of course, taking care of 'Ace Maximus' here was going to be a _very_ _boring_ chore, so she'd need to scare the crap out of her vassal some more later for personal amusement. "Alright, loser. You'd better give a reason for wrecking my grinding session before I chop your head off and hang it on a wall."

"…My maiden, hast thou succumbed to the bewitchment of thy monstrous captors?" the loser responded with. Axis picked up her axe and smashed one of its head's curved blades into the ground next to him (because killing him there and then would have just been too messy). "BWAAH! M-m-my maiden?" he exclaimed, jumping a few feet into the air from the sudden threat _(and I say _sudden_ because for being a giant-ass axe, Axis sure can swing it quickly)_.

"First, I'm no maiden." Axis tugged at the handle and the axe came clean out of the ground, and she caught it in both hands as she got in her stance. "Second, time's up. So _die_!"

* * *

"You _stole_ this ship?"

"Yup."

"From _who_?"

"Some kid, a duck… and some other weird ani-humanoid _thing_, I don't know."

"ETNA!"

"You wanna get back to the Netherworld or not?" Etna leaned back in the driver's seat of the small ship she had 'commandeered' from the world they had previously stayed in. She was just nudging the controls with her foot whilst resting her hands behind her head, pretty content with just taking it easy the rest of the way home. "Besides, I'm still technically a space pirate until we get back home, so it's my _job_ to plunder and pillage and 'yo-ho-ho' and all that stuff."

She turned her head slowly until she could make out her friend from the corner of her eye. Her blonde, wavy-haired companion was looking out of the window, her lips pouted and her red demon wings twitching. Etna knew her well enough to know that Flonne was: 1) trying to fight the building irritation she was feeling right now, since she normally 'promoted' tolerance, 2) considering taking over the controls and steering the little ship back to return it, and 3) thinking about how pretty all the stars were from here.

"It isn't right to steal something like a _ship_, Etna. What if the people you stole it from get stuck in that town now? What if they paid for this ship with all of their money?" Flonne was starting to tear up and panic more and more as she thought about it. "What if they left something vital on here and they - "

"Alright, alright, enough with the _failing_ guilt trip!" Etna moaned, slouching in her seat and spinning the chair around to fully face her fallen angel friend. Instantly the former angel's ruby-red eyes shone in her direction.

"Does that mean we'll take the ship back?"

"If it'll shut you up, then yeah. But only _after_ we get home." Sighing, the redhead leaned back into the chair and turned back around, looking at the space ahead through the front window.

Meteors. There was a whole cluster of meteors right in front of them. Etna mumbled something that Flonne would _not_ have approved of and started to man the controls with her hands. The ship began to turn, but stopped with a loud clang. It had collided with one of the floating rocks and now slowly spun further into its companions. Etna growled with agitation.

"Flonne, how do you feel about being tossed like a salad?"

"I think it would make me sick."

"Then I suggest you buckle up."

"Why, Etn - AAAAAHHH!" Flonne was immediately at Etna's side, grasping her shoulder in panic. Etna couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Flonne had been hiding under a _rock_ during the ship's previous collision. "Etna, how are we gonna fly out of these things?"

"Pretty easily as long as you stop _shaking me_!"

Flonne immediately let go of Etna. "S-sorry!"

* * *

"Thy maiden is – AAAAAAAAHHH! – also a – AAAAAAAHHH! – vicious being?" the Ace Loser kept screaming. He dodged attack after attack after attack as Axis tried to slice his sorry ass in two.

_Why do my opponents keep dodging my attacks? Don't they know when to die?_ Axis kept roaring inside her head, keeping up her tempo with the swinging and slamming of the axe she wielded. _Geez, the loser's giving me a headache!_

"Axis, don't you think this is a little - "

"SHUT UP!" She allowed herself to cease her crazed attacking to toss a giant sword from a weapon pile over towards the wimp. It landed just at the tip of his foot and his nose wasn't far from the sharp blade as he stood there, paralyzed. "I TOLD YOU, 'YOUR HIGHNESS' OR 'MY LADY'!"

"Highness?" Loser asked curiously. Axis focused her attention back on him. He was shaken up from all of the running away, but he didn't seem too scared of her. He was a stupid loser. "Why dost thou possess the name 'Highness'?" _('Dost'? Yep, I'm making it all up, aren't I?)_

"Why do you think?" Axis charged forward again and this time came _veeery_ close to hitting him. He just dodged too late and a single hair was chopped off by the blade. Loser did one of those one-handed backwards cartwheel things to distance himself from Axis as she un-jammed her weapon from the ground. "I'm the princess, DUMBASS!"

"Thy Overlord's young offspring? Then perhaps thy demon spawn has knowledge of thy creator?"

"I'M NOT SPAWN!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Um, Mr. …Maximus, right?" Axis shot a look at Wimp. Why was he still butting in? Hadn't he learned to keep out of this fight after that sword nearly sliced through him? But he still called in the direction of Loser from the edge of the indoor battlefield like the sword _wasn't_ still in front of him. "Why do you wanna know about the Overlord? Aren't you here just to kill him, end of?"

"Ah yes, indeed I cameth to slayeth the Overlord." Loser dodged the assaulting princess again with another yelp of panic. "However, thy demonic ruler was not present in his hall of power and reign."

"His… zzzz… what?" Vassal-Lord mumbled through his laziness. Damned vassal, sleeping on the job without permission! Axis would punish him later.

"The chamber of thy Netherworld's throne, slumbering monster – AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Loser dodged again _(how many times has the word 'dodged' appeared so far?)_ and made sure he was now a good distance away from Axis. She spun around to face him, grasping her axe tightly as she prepared another strike. "I vowed against harming a maiden, but thou hast left me with no alternative!"

Maybe she'd get a good death blow in during his actual attack. "I hope you've committed a whopper of a sin in your life, 'cause I'll enjoy killing you again after this!"

"Thy wish shalt not be granted, foul heiress!" The human gave a few swift jabs into the air and flourished his foil for the umpteenth time. Axis gave charge, expecting him to dodge again. But the loser surprised her. He aimed his foil in her direction and confidently cried, "Shortas Shellshockus Shieldius!"

Axis slammed her axe into something other than the human's head. She caught a glimpse of the barrier that surrounded him before she and her axe were flung backwards, into a pile of spiky maces. She leapt back out of them with a seriously pissed-off face. That was it. She was going to kill him so hard he'd never come back to the land of the living, Prinny or otherwise.

Loser made a couple more gestures with his foil. "Swatch Swallow Swiftiaras!"

"'Swatch'? What the hell's a - " Axis began, but she didn't have any time to speak further. In the blink of an eye, Loser swooped forward across the field and struck a blow to her, knocking her off balance and making her drop her axe. He delivered a couple more blows before he was suddenly standing still, in the spot he was in before his spell. Axis looked up at him, now with a few new scratches and a lack of health. Damn, this guy was _serious_? _This_ guy?

"Uh… you okay over there, Axis?"

"STOP DISTRACTING ME!" she yelled impatiently at the wimp. Then she got another couple of hits from Ace. Axis fell on her butt and growled, looking at the human. She was gonna lose if this kept going. And she refused to lose to something as mortal as a human.

_I need to find some kind of catch with his speed spell. But if I don't know what kind it is –_

_Slash, slash!_

"DAMMIT!" she shrieked after a couple more attacks. She gripped her arm and kept up her angry focus on the human. He stood there all smug and victorious as though he had already won. Just standing there, all proud and –

And that was when Axis found the catch to his spell. Loser always retreated back to the same spot. The _exact_ same spot. That was what he needed to keep the spell constant. And if she could just keep him still, then she could recover in time to attack.

"This shall be the end of thy treacherous sins, being of darkness!" he cried triumphantly. Axis struggled up to her feet as the human got into his stance, ready to charge in for a final strike.

It was her only chance. Axis aimed her palm at him and yelled, "Grouch Grumpus Groundioro!"

A strange ripple effect stretched from where she crouched on the ground, covering the whole room's floor. Everyone's feet glowed as the ripple passed beneath them. As Loser tried to move in, he lost balance and started waving his arms frantically to regain balance, and when he straightened he looked down at his feet in panic. Axis smiled. All that studying was paying off. "What demon cursory is this?"

"Grounding spell." She did her best to straighten up whilst her feet remained stuck in the same spots from before. She admitted that she probably should have shifted them into a more comfortable position before the spell, but meh, what could she do? "Now, if you don't mind, I have my own ability to try on you, Loser."

"Ability? Thou hast a trick up thy dark, filthy sleeve?"

"SHUT UP! It's not filthy!" Axis followed her instinct and raised her arms above her head, reaching her palms as far towards the ceiling as she could. Sparks spat out from her hands and slithered into the air around her. They formed a small group of thin needles, white and purple sparks that floated around her, pointing towards Loser with what felt like a fury similar to her own. She smiled. She didn't know how interesting (and cool) Specials could be. "Try dodging _this_ one."

Axis threw her arms down in front of her and her Fury Needles shot towards the human. He yelled in horror as they struck him at the same instant, knocking him free from the grounding spell and throwing him into the stone wall behind him in a small explosion. The grounding spell was ceased and everything and everyone now regained free movement from a reversed ripple effect.

"…Is he dead?" Axis heard the wimp ask. She sighed and glared at him.

"What, you just missed my kickass Special? What makes you think he survived – "

_Bzzzt!_

"_Gemus Teleportus!"_

She gasped and angrily looked back at where the human was _meant_ to be lying lifelessly. Instead he was holding something bright in his hand, and he dissolved from the spot in a shower of sparkles. Axis growled furiously, her fists shaking uncontrollably. The HELL? That new power felt so strong! How could that human still survive?

"Um…" Wimp leaned into her reddening vision with some… _weird_ look. Like he was smiling… and 'anime sweat-dropping'? What the hell kind of expression was that? "Well, at least you still got some levels from that fight, huh?"

"Still… haven't… beat me… zzzzzzzz…"

Axis ignored Vassal-Lord (who was STILL snoozing without permission) and marched out of the Training Hall, focusing on the torch-lit hallway ahead. "Get the Prinnies to clean all of this crap up and report to the Overlord's throne room, vassals. NOW."

Besides, now that she thought about it, there was something that Loser had said that bothered her.

* * *

Damn. Loser was right.

Axis kicked the large, heavy wooden doors open and stood in the doorway, her pigtails blowing all around her from the draft that the hallway's open windows invited. The throne room was dark. Really dark. Not a torch was lit and from what little light there was, nothing moved.

The demon princess pointed her finger towards one of the walls without looking. She knew this place well enough to know where things were. "Light it."

A wisp of black shot from the edge of her coat sleeve and struck the torch in the dark, setting it alight and making the room easier to see.

It was void of any life. The throne room was huge. The ceiling was high, the crimson carpet was long and clear against the dark marble floor and the walls were only a shade lighter than said floors. Torches lined the walls but none looked as though they had been lit for a long time. Grey steps of stones lead to a matching platform near the end of the carpet opposite the door. On the platform was a huge chair with a tall back to the seat, made of some kind of dark gold and was uncomfortably _icy_ just to look at.

There was no-one in the throne. _He_ was meant to be there. _He_ was meant to stay there until the day she would come to kill him. But _he_ wasn't.

The Overlord was gone, and now Axis would have to look for him and find him to kill him.

Damn. A close third to things she hated: _boring hide 'n seek quests._

_

* * *

_

**?:** Owowowowow… in the n-next instalment of Emergency First Aid Squad… owowow…  
**Witchey:** Keep the phony preview going, traitor.  
**?:** O-okay! Th-the Grand Master of Surgery s-suffers from a terrible illness and the rest of the team must – owowowowow – save him!  
**Flonne:** Oh my!  
**Etna:** Why is that weird witch threatening that girl with a pistol?  
**?:** S-save me please!  
**Witchey:** KEEP PREVIEWING!  
**?:** Th-th-the horrible catch to this illness is that it can ONLY be cured by surgery, and no-one else on the team knows any surgery to perform the operation!  
**Etna: **Well that sounds stupid. What if they needed more than one surgeon? Why only have the one guy?  
**Flonne:** Shh! I wanna know what happens next!  
**?:** What will they do? Can the Cameo Master summon for them the legendary Doctor Stiles, or will they accidently bring Doctor Rabbit to their realm?  
**Flonne:** No! Not Dr. Rabbit!  
**Etna:** Why do I get the feeling that that's a meme somewhere?  
**?:** This is an emergency b-broadcast! _A Two-Way Link! Will Glen figure out what the Destiny Dust has done to him?_ W-won't someone please _help_ me?  
**Witchey:** If you keep up the Mary-Sueness, NO-ONE will be able to help you where you're going.  
**?:** *Whimper*  
**Flonne:** Etna, we should help her!  
**Etna:** Nah, don't feel like it.  
**Flonne:** ETNA!

* * *

And so we have some kind of plot point! And this chapter was finished in more time than I was hoping. T_T

Anyway, Etna and Flonne finally make some kind of appearance in this fic! When will they rejoin their Overlord only to find he's a vassal himself now? (Guess what ship they're using BTW XD) And none shall defeat ACE MAXIMUS that easily!

Later Days!

P.S.: I am SO making up most of the spells as I go along in this fic.


	6. A Two Way Link

First off, I'm gonna start by saying that I'll try and post the date of when I start writing my chapters. I started writing this chapter on: 28/9/10 (_Edit: AAAAAAAAAHHH! I LEFT THIS FOR OVER A MONTH!) (Edit 2: TWO MONTHS?)_

LISTEN UP! If you're interested, ask any characters in this fic, canon or OC, any questions you wanna ask them! I cannot guarantee you'll always be satisfied with the answer, but hell, do it anyway! …Please, I live on feedback, for bloody sake. T_T

**DISCLAIMER:** Simon the Geo Monster shall – oh, screw it.

* * *

A Two-Way Link

"Um…" Damn, what was he gonna say? Glen had to do something to at least _try_ and cheer Axis up. She looked like she was on the verge of exploding, and that didn't look well for him or his roommate. Cautiously, he walked over to where she was standing (keeping Simon hidden behind his back as he did so). He tilted sideways to just get into her line of sight and tried the best 'it's okay' look he could. She didn't look pleased. His look must have been bad. "Well, at least you still got some levels from that fight, huh?"

"Still… haven't… beat me… zzzzzzzz…" his roommate snored from the floor. Glen shot him a quick little glare, somewhat panicked and angry. Panicked because Axis was probably even more pissed at his comment (and he had a brief awareness of what she was capable of), and angry because said roommate making the comment wasn't helping.

But Axis, whom Glen had expected to go in a fit of rage (knowing her for less than a day was enough to get a grip of her overall personality, apparently), ignored him. She shoved past Glen and headed towards the door, not even bothering a look at either of the other demons. "Get the Prinnies to clean all of this crap up and report to the Overlord's throne room, vassals. NOW," she ordered.

The air didn't feel safe until the demon princess had completed vacated the area. Glen could only watch, feeling… _weird_.

_(Warning: little bit o' exposition)_

Glen was a nice demon. Most of the time. He stole, he cursed and he could hold his ground in a fight (and maybe kick an ass or two, it depended on the situation), but yeah, concern for others = nice guy (and concern for self safety = wimp). But Axis was… _complicated_ to him. He didn't know why exactly he was so concerned for Axis (remember, he met her only yesterday). And yet some part of Glen felt like he should be caring about her well-being. At least more than he would have done if she weren't a total brat.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Glen jogged over to the antennae'd demon lying flat on the ground. He put his hands on his knees and looked at the demon's sleeping face. "Hey, roomie?"

The blue-hair's eyes shot open. "Don't. Call me. Roomie."

Glen grinned and tried to hold back a chuckle at how annoyed the demon looked. In fact, he was so amused he completely forgot the fact that Axis had called him an ov – oh, crap. Something wrapped itself around Glen's ankle and pulled him up into the air so he was dangling upside down. He looked at the young overlord's face. "W-would it be alright if I knew your name so that I _don't_ call you that?"

He looked Glen in the eye with a tired glare. Grunting with some kind of approval, his red scarf dropped the thief back onto the ground. "It's Overlord Laharl, _Glen_."

Glen sat up from the floor and dusted his impossible hairstyle off, smiling. "Well, at least _you_ can remember my name."

"Shut up before I _kill you_." Laharl rolled onto his side so that his back was turned on Glen. The thief rolled his eyes and kicked himself up from the floor.

"Demons. Always hatin'."

"I thought I told you to shut up?" Laharl growled.

Glen shrugged and started to walk towards the door, thinking about what Axis had ordered them to do before she stomped off. What was the first thing? …Prinnies, that was it. Ask the Prinnies to help clean up the Training Hall. "…Where am I supposed to go to get the Prinnies?" he mumbled quietly to himself. Glen stopped walking and turned back around to ask Laharl if he knew.

His face was just an inch away from Simon's when he stopped turning. The Geo Monster was dangling from the end of a red scarf, purring with joy as he swung on it from side to side. The owner of the scarf was now sluggishly sitting up on the ground, glaring at Simon with a glare deadlier than Axis's. "He bugs me again and I'll kill him."

Glen quickly plucked Simon off of the scarf and restrained his friend so that he wouldn't risk his life further. "Got it. Hey, Laharl, do you - "

"Don't know, thief." Laharl stood up and dragged his feet along the floor, shoving past Glen to make his was to the exit. "Ask _her_."

"How did you - " He was about to ask how Laharl knew what he was going to ask, but Simon leaped effortlessly from his grip and bounded happily over in the same direction as Laharl. Simon hopped up and landed on Beatrice's shoulder, who was suddenly standing in the doorway, and took the huge mug of hot cocoa into his small paws/hands. _(I still don't know what they are.¬_¬;)_

"Master Simon," Beatrice addressed the small creature. She focused her line of sight to the demon boys and, without so much as a peek at the rest of the room, said, "A team of Prinnies has already been summoned to tend to the Training Hall, good sirs."

"Well, that was… um, quick."

"There was no trouble when it came to hearing the battle from the kitchen, Sir Glen," the maid stated matter-of-factly. She turned around on her heel and began to walk down the long hallway.

Glen jogged after her to keep up, giving Laharl a 'You coming?' sort of glance. Laharl replied with a 'F*** off' sort of glance.

Glen slowed his pace when he caught up to Beatrice, allowing Simon to hop onto his shoulder with the huge cocoa mug. As they walked, Beatrice, without moving her head or slowing her movement, looked at the thief. She seemed almost robotic in a way. "You wish to know the location of His Majesty's throne room, am I correct?"

"..Kinda," he said, feeling slightly sheepish. "Axis told us to meet up with her there."

"Am I to assume that by your use of a plural, My Lady was addressing yourself and My Lord, Sir Glen?"

"'My Lord'? Oh, you mean Laharl!"

"_OVERLORD LAHARL!"_

Glen nearly lost balance by the power in Laharl's voice, even when he was all the way back in the training hall. Beatrice was not phased, however, and kept up her pace without interruption. She continued to speak to Glen as soon as he recovered and caught up to her. "My Lady rarely visits His Majesty's throne room. It has been almost a century since she last set foot inside said room."

"Don't she and her dad get along then?" Glen asked, straightening the goggles in his hair so that he had something to do. He waited for a polite reply from the maid, but there was none. He looked up at her and saw something different. Her blonde hair was the same, her proper poise was the same, her straight face was the same. It was those deep, pink-red eyes. They looked… odd, somehow.

"I am afraid I do not understand their relationship well, Sir Glen," she finally said, giving him a deliberate look with those eyes. "I am sorry that I cannot provide you with the answer you wished."

* * *

"That foul band of minions. Thine Overlord shalt feeleth justice, come tomorrow!" Ace called into the sky above. Then he thought about it a little more, how he had had the upper hand until the young, green-haired demon displayed such strength for being someone at a disadvantage. And she had knowledge of grounding spells, knowing how to counter his own enchantments. He sighed. "On thy other leather-bound hand, perhaps thine justice shalt cometh at a later date."

The human hero had no idea where he was right now. There was a countless number of floating liquid trails and misted clouds around him, and the sky was changing into a number of vibrant colours. He must have teleported himself to an alternate dimension of some sorts, or perhaps he was caught between worlds, or maybe he wasn't thinking clearly when he used his Teleport Crystal, or alternatively –

"YO! Ace! Down here!"

When Ace looked down he did not see the owner of the all-too-familiar voice. He only saw a blob of amber and yellow, distorted and fuzzy. Ace took a step forward on what he believed to be a stable blob of the giant dew-drop things in the air.

"Thou art caught in the middle of a shapeshifting spe – " He didn't get to finish. The dew-drop dissipated and he started to tumble down, what felt like, a bumpy hillside. It went on and on, sending pain to his back and head and neck and legs, until his descent stopped and he lay in a crumpled mess. He looked up at the blur of warm colours as it stood above him.

"Oh, great! C'mon, Acey, how many tails have I got?" the youthful voice squeaked.

"…Tails?"

"…What are you seeing right now?"

"Thou wishes to know of what is right in front of thee?" he asked, trying to straighten his body out on the invisible solid ground. "Why, thou is surrounded by wisps of the sea and clouds, with a breathtaking spectrum of colours beyond imagi – "

"Aw, man, you're hallucinating again!" Ace heard his friend groan, and a pair of hands gripped one of his arms and tried to hoist him on his feet. "I thought I told you not to use that crystal without eating Medicine first!"

"I was in dire peril, youthful lady!" he retorted, stumbling back and forth as he tried to regain his footing. He heard the short one sigh and wrap her arms around his waist to support him. He kept explaining as he felt her guide him somewhere that didn't exist in the hallucination. "I cameth acrosseth young demons three, servants of the foul Overlord of Netherworld… Oh, whateth were its co-ordinates again?"

"Never mind which one it was for now! This is what happens when you don't bring your sidekick with you!" His friend sounded very angry with him. He looked down at her to try and manage some kind of pleading look, but since he was unable to see her face he couldn't focus on where to look. "Ya know what, this time _I'll_ go and take care of that dang castle while _you_ stay behind wondering what's happening!"

"No, I cannot allow that!" Ace insisted, pulling away with his head held high and his hand pointed to the technicolour sky… before his legs completely gave way beneath him without support and he fell face-first in bright blue gunk, though it tasted like mud.

"Don't worry, Acey, I'll just take care of those minions for you like a good sidekick! Then you can just get right to their overlord without breaking a sweat!" Ace felt himself being yanked out of the goo, but the momentum flung him back and he felt something very hard hit his head. As he started to lose consciousness from the new injury, Ace heard the words, "Um, but let's make sure you don't die first, 'kay?"

* * *

It was a while until Beatrice and Glen reached the throne room. And when they finally got there, he couldn't help but gawk. The door was _huge_. Just… just _huge_! Sure, he'd seen big doors in castles (while he robbed them) but this was one of the most over-the-top clichéd designs ever. And that included the intimidating emblem of a pair of demon wings that acted as some kind of extra lock for the door.

The doors had been swung open into the big, empty and dark throne room. From what little light a sole torch provided, Glen could see the drawn, deep red curtains to the left and right of the door, and they stretched out all the way to the other end of the room. It didn't smell right in here either. It smelled old and dusty, like nothing had lived in here for years.

And then there was Axis. Glen couldn't miss her, as she was standing just a few feet in the room. She had her back to them, facing the empty throne with shaking fists. Aside from that and her pigtails fluttering in the hallway's slight draft, she was completely still. Glen took a couple of quiet, cautious steps away from the doorway, worried that she would flip. Was there something wrong?

Her body twisted to the side and her face whipped around to glare furiously at the thief and the maid. Glen froze. She looked deadly in this light. Would he have to defend himself if she started going on a rampage? "Where's Vassal?" she demanded.

Glen felt some rush of relief. Maybe she wouldn't focus her anger on him after all. "You mean Laharl?

"That's what I said, Wimp," she snapped with a frown.

"Uuuh… OK." _Just agree with her, man, just agree with her._ "He said he wasn't coming." Well, technically, Laharl only _implied_ it. With one look. A pretty mean one, too.

"Vassal, show Wimpy Vassal back to his pen." Axis turned around all the way and began to stomp out of the throne room. The lit torch nearest the doors suddenly went out, and the doors slowly creaked to a close behind her. She shot a glare at Glen as she passed him. "And you, Wimp, are to report to the Dimension Gateway tomorrow morning. Bring the grinding dummy too."

In the very moment after that, as Axis started to walk away from Beatrice and Glen, the latter felt like saying something. He took a breath and calmly said, "You shouldn't call me a wimp."

Axis stopped dead and swung around, her axe suddenly in her hands and pointing towards Glen. He couldn't help but noticed that an emblem similar to the one on the doors was in between the double blades of the axe head. Oh look, he found some kind of Easter Egg. "What did you say?" Axis spat, her pigtails flailing about in a wind that did not exist and her eyes started to glow an angry red.

Glen took a cautious step away from her as he had done earlier, but he didn't really feel any fear. This face of Axis was indeed the spitting image of the crazed demon who attempted to murder him before, but he knew that he wasn't in immediate danger now. He looked her straight in the eye and just answered with, "It's not nice."

"AND? What's your point, Wimp?" she yelled, and the same bogus wind that whipped her hair started to whip the edges of her coat as well.

Glen took a long hard look at her, but then he just sighed and laced his fingers together behind his head. He started to walk towards Axis and then past her, saying, " Ya know what? Never mind."

"NO! I demand an explanation!" Axis yelled, dashing in front of him and holding the tip of her axe's blade to his nose. Glen had a slight panic moment at this point, completely frozen when she added, "Explain or I'll kill you!"

"…Buuut you can't. "He managed to pull three words out from his mind as a response. And now that he thought over it, he came to a conclusion that he hadn't come to before. The conclusion was either subtle or he was dense. "You can't kill me at all, at least not after that vase thing, right?"

Axis's mystery gust completely died and she looked at him with some kind of astonishment. Then she went back to her pissed off face and her axe dissolved into the air in wisps of purple smoke and sparks. She pointed a finger in Glen's face and hastily spat out, "I thought I told you to keep your trap shut about that!"

"Relax, my lips are sealed… just so long as you, I dunno, be _nice_ to me?" Glen flashed her a cocky little smirk. "Maybe even let me leave and forget I was ever here?" It sounded like a good plan to escape this place. At the time. But his smirk vanished when her eyes suddenly disappeared completely beneath her fringe.

"…Are you… trying… to… _blackmail_ me?" Glen gulped. The next time he saw her eyes again, they were blinded with red. Axis grabbed his vest-jacket's collar and yanked him down to her eye level (which hurt his back because there was a bit of a height gap between them). "Just because I can't _kill_ you… doesn't mean I can't _hurt_ you!"

* * *

Glen felt himself being thrown forward, and he landed face-first on what felt like the floor. Dear lord, how many bruises did he have? And why did Axis have to use those throwing knives?

"Look what the brat tossed in," he heard Laharl yawn. He lifted his head up to see the young overlord sitting up on the bed of their room, rubbing his eyes of sleepy dust. "So, how'd you manage to beat Glen up? It's not like you could beat me up after all, so – "

"SILENCE VASSAL!" There was a loud stomp from the doorway behind Glen. "Explain why you didn't report!"

"*yawn* Just 'cause I respect the fact that you're evil doesn't mean I'll accept orders, loudmouth."

"You are to call me 'Your Highness' or 'MY LADY'!"

Glen listened to the back-and-forth 'banter' between the two royals until his aches and pains felt like too much. He rested his head on the floor and tried getting some sleep. Hopefully without nightmares of an angry Axis chasing him with a mace.

_It wasn't a nightmare (thank Celestia), but it wasn't a pleasant dream per se. In fact, it was a bit of a weird dream._

_Glen was standing in an abyss of black, going on like an endless eternity around him. He was by himself, looking around, with nothing to do. So, until he woke up, he decided to walk. And walk. And walk. It went on for ages as he awaited some kind of unpleasant wake-up call._

_It just so happened that as he felt his dream was coming to an end, something actually happened. Glen stopped walking when he saw something huddled on the invisible ground up ahead, its back to him. He could hear muffled sounds upon seeing this image, but despite seeing this being right in front of him he couldn't put his finger on what it looked like. _

_And then, the dream ended with a – _

_KA-BOOM!_

Glen's eyes snapped open as the floor beneath him shook violently. Even through the haze of just waking up, he recalled how strangely unbalanced this castle looked from the outside, and he feared that it could tip over anytime during this quake. But gradually, it died, and Glen sighed with relief. What was that? Had something crashed into the castle or –

"WHAT THE FRICKIN' HELL WAS THAT?" Laharl boomed, a mix of shock with annoyance, and Glen covered his hair with dread as the castle shook some more.

* * *

**?:** It's time for _Pretty Kitty Nya-Nya's Team Power_ Preview!  
**Laharl:** Oh. Joy.  
**?:** Our fearless feline leader is ready to take on the invading forces of the evil Alien Demons of Nether 42!  
**Laharl:** Alien _Demons_? We come from other worlds, that doesn't make us aliens, dumbass.  
**Glen:** Is it normal that she starts to piss you off after a couple of chapters?  
**Laharl & Axis:** Yes.  
**Axis:** Wait, no, don't say things at the same time as your master, Vassal!  
**?:** But she has suddenly developed feelings for her number one rival of the alien force, the bad boy Pastry!  
**Glen: **…A bad boy named Pastry?  
**Laharl:** There _has_ been worse.  
**?:** Will the happy memories of her boyfriend on Earth help bring her to her senses, or will she com to the conclusion that Pastry is her one true love?  
**Axis:** Vassals, how do hero stories work again?  
**Glen:** You basically root for the protagonist to win.  
**Laharl:** But this one sounds like a cheating whore.  
**?:** Coming up! _Ruffled Feathers! A new challenger has appeared!_  
**Laharl:** Could we actually have some canon characters here for once?  
**Glen:** Well, we have Simon… he's sorta canon… wait, where's Simon?

* * *

Don't worry Glen, maybe Simon's gone on vacation with Waldo.

And the title pun for the next chapter won't be completely relevant until possibly the very end! And sorry if this chapter seems a little lazy. I'll proof-read it with the other chapters to be sure it's consistent.

EDIT: All done! Also, TWO MONTHS?

Later Days!


	7. Ruffled Feathers

And thus, Witchey said LET THERE BE AN UPDATE! …But nothing happened, so she had to do it herself in the end. And so the moral was: Only God gets away with that kind of stuff, the rest of us work for it. T_T

LISTEN UP! If you're interested, ask any characters in this fic, canon or OC, any questions you wanna ask them! I cannot guarantee you'll always be satisfied with the answer, but hell, do it anyway! …Please, I live on feedback, for bloody sake. T_T

**DISCLAIMER:** Simon the Geo Monster shall… you know what? Why am I bothering? Clearly, I, a fanfic writer, have no owning rights to the Disgaea series, but why do we put down these disclaimers? Starbucks. IT'S A CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU!

* * *

Ruffled Feathers

Beatrice had been going about her usual routine. To prevent the already existing draft within the castle from getting colder than necessary, she was going about through the corridors and closing the tall windows. But it was one window that she happened to look out of that caught her attention and delayed her routine. Through the open air, she watched as a burning blur of red and yellow came plummeting down from the sky. Beatrice pulled some of her blonde hair away from a pointed ear and listened carefully, and through the roar of the ship, she heard voices.

"_ETNAETNAETNA, WHY ARE WE FALLING?"_

"_ONE OF THE WINGS IS GONE! THAT STUPID METEOR!"_

"_Aww, how are we gonna return this ship now - "_

"_**PRIORITIES**__, FLONNE!"_

The maid looked out over the windowsill, and took notice of the direction the ship was falling in; right into the abyss.

Beatrice went into motion. She jumped onto the sill and kicked herself up into the air. She shot straight up to the ship, spear suddenly in hand, and began to twirl and spin it around until it sparked with dark energy. The maid and the ship met, and things felt like they had slowed. She could now see two young demons, both female, through the window of the little ship, both terrified at the canyon below and too distracted to notice the maid. She brought the spear over her head and smashed it on the roof of the ship, diverting it from its current path and guiding it on a different course. The little ship continued to descend, and instead of the empty abyss it crashed into one of the lower walls of the crooked castle.

_KA-BOOM!_

Beatrice slowly floated down back towards the open window and stepped down into the hallway again. She turned to close the large window, but paused. Something was coming…

…

…

…

"_WHAT THE FRICKIN' HELL WAS THAT?"_

And the castle started shaking again. Beatrice would have to wait until Lord Laharl calmed himself before she could return to her rounds.

* * *

"Ooowww… well, that was painful…" Etna moaned, rubbing her head. She opened her eyes to look at the mess of their crash.

They had broken through a thick stoned wall of, what she barely remembered to be, some kind of building, and she was sitting on top of most of its rubble opposite the ship itself. There were pieces of glass here and there, from where Etna and Flonne had crashed through the windshield, and on top of all that there was a mix of smoke and dirt and dust and filth in the air. Bleh. It smelled like the last meal Flonne cooked for them. Speaking of Flonne, Etna didn't know where her friend was.

"_Mmmmfff! Mmnnmmph!"_

"Flonne?" Etna called, sliding down the little hill of rubble. She could hear a muffled mumbling that vaguely sounded like her, but the fallen angel was nowhere in sight. "Alright, where'd you g – "

_WHU-PAH!_

"OW!" Etna fell back onto the rocks and rubbed her stinging forehead. She'd found Flonne. The blonde was stuck headfirst in a pile of dirt, with only her legs and tail free, the latter whipping about frantically. Etna grabbed the tail before it could whip her again. "Damnit, Flonne, was that really necessary?"

After a few minutes of clearing rocks away and avoiding more tail whips, Etna managed to help Flonne get out of all the mess. The blonde sunk to the floor and took in long, deep breaths, coughing out anything that wasn't supposed to be in her mouth. "Thanks, Etna. I thought I was gonna suffocate in there!"

"Flonne, we can manage underwater for long periods of time, I don't think dirt is any different," Etna muttered, taking a closer look around the place.

It looked like they had crashed into some kind of dungeon. Their ship had busted through the end of a long corridor, with doors of rusted metal dotting the stone walls here and there on either side. It looked pretty old school and basic, outdating the dungeon back home and pretty much any Etna had seen for that matter. But there was something odd. Etna walked over to one of the doors and eyed the lock in the middle carefully. It didn't look rusted like the others, so it must have been used recently. She tapped it.

_BZZT!_

"Ouch!" Etna swiped her hand away in time as black sparks spat out from the lock, landing on the stone floor with spits and sizzles. Dark magic, definitely. Etna looked at the lock again curiously. It was basically an emblem of demon wings with a keyhole in the centre of it, strapped and secured to the door with crisscrossing chains. Whoever sealed this door must have been extra cautious to use dark magic as well as this lock. What could they have been trying to hide? Treasure? Well, if that was the case, then she would just have to -

"Etna! Etna, come quick!"

Etna growled and pulled her attention from the door to where Flonne was further down the dungeon's hallway. "What is it? Did you get something in your eye again?"

"No! I need your help getting this door open!" Flonne was standing next to one of the dungeon doors, and then Etna noticed a small pair of hands poke through the little peeping hole in the metal frame. She walked over to the blonde and looked into square peephole that the hands were poking through, and she saw a pair of big, teal eyes staring at her.

"Is this a friend of yours, Flonne?" she asked Flonne with scepticism.

"No, I've never met him before, but he knows who I am!" Flonne explained, fiddling with the lock to try and get it to open. Etna looked at the pair of eyes staring at her again. There was a brief silence, with only the sound of Flonne's attempts to open the door in the background. Then a young voice spoke from behind the door.

"Hello, ma'am. You must be one of Miss Flonne's demon friends, it's a pleasure meeting you."

"See? He knows who I am!" Flonne pointed out, banging a rock against the lock to try and break it. She tossed the rock away when she found it wouldn't work and ran back to the wreckage to get something else. Flonne came back with a broken pipe and continued to hammer at the lock.

"Uh, Flonne, I don't think that's gonna work with this kind of locking system, y'know."

"Are you helping me or not?"

"Nope, it's more fun to watch."

"Et-naaaaa."

"Don't whine at me."

"Excuse me Miss Demon, but could I please ask what your name is?" the owner of the cutesy eyes asked. Etna waited for Flonne to give up and go get something else before she answered. She had to admit that watching Flonne's attempts to break the lock was pretty amusing.

"You can call me Beauty Queen Etna, as many… others… do," Etna said, starting off confident but trailing off. She wasn't quite focused on her introduction when she realised that Flonne was standing behind her, facing the door. With a _missile launcher_.

"I'm sorry but could you both please get away from the door as far as possible?" Flonne asked kindly, turning on the targeting system on the large weapon. Whilst the prisoner locked up on the other side complied, Etna was standing there with her mouth gaping open like a fish.

"Um… Etna? Are you… okay?"

"…Flonne… I thought we agreed that you'd get rid of your missile launcher? ...Y'know, after the whole 'Scarecrow' incident."

"I did. I found _this_ on the ship."

"…Why the hell would a duck and a dog need a missile launcher?"

"Not a clue, but it's just like my old one!"

"Hey, don't swing that thing at me! Give it to me, I'll do it."

"Thank you, Etna!"

"Don't thank me. I rather be in one piece than splattered over the wall. Geez, did some of your brain just _stay_ as a bunch of flowers?"

_

* * *

_

BOOM!

Axis grabbed onto the rail of the spiralling staircase as her home shook about for the third time that day. This was getting really annoying. Where was a disposable Prinny when you needed to vent your anger?

"Jeez, does your castle do this all the time? What kind of dump is this?" one vassal asked. She frowned and looked at the two demons behind her, neither of them paying much interest in where they were going. Axis warmed up a little mini-spear of energy in her hand and, frustrated, tossed it at the short, blue-haired one just a few steps behind her. His scarf deflected it with a small flick. "That's starting to get a little irritating now."

"Then stop countering and let them hit you!" Axis snapped, warming up what she believed to be the seventh one that morning.

"Axis, where are we going?" her taller vassal asked casually, lacing his fingers together behind his head and taking a look over the rail of the staircase. He was looking about with tired eyes and even yawned. "This field trip's getting a little boring."

Axis was a little more than tempted to aim her mini-spear at his heart but right now it wouldn't get her anywhere. Besides, the rules of this situation required _two_ sidekicks to do the grunt work. She turned her back on them both and they continued to walk down the stairs. "I told you yesterday, the Dimension Gateway. What, you thought it would just be behind that door upstairs, simple as that?"

"Yes," both of her vassals said in unison, both equally bored. Axis growled under her breath. She really wished she could kill them, but she was restrained by the requirements of her goal to do just that. They would live, for now.

"Wrong. A previous overlord didn't want the Gateway to be in plain sight, since pretty much anyone would be able to manipulate the Gatekeeper anyway," she explained in a very annoyed tone, continuing to lead the way down the staircase. It would have been nice and dark if a certain maid hadn't decided to light up all the torches for them earlier. Stupid Vassal. "So, they _specifically_ kept it down here to stop so many vassals and enemies from using it."

"Is it really that easy to use?" La-something asked. She didn't like the smug tone in his voice when he said that. She stopped walking and snapped around to glare at him for an answer. Ugh, great, he was smirking too, with his arms folded in that 'I'm better than you' tone _(__**AN:**__ because he _is_ better than you, Axis)_. "You know, if that overlord wanted your Gateway to be hard to use, why didn't they just change the Gatekeeper?"

"Shut up, Vassal! I forbid you to question that!"

"You're forbidding me from wondering why the overlord didn't use the most obvious choice? You must really hate free thought, huh?"

"I'M YOUR FREAKIN' BOSS, THAT'S WHY!"

"You know, one of these days you guys are gonna _really_ hurt your vocal chords." Glen had walked past Axis down what was left of the steps, pointing towards whatever was behind her. "By the way, I think we're - "

_THWACK!_

_THUD!_

"…heeeere," Glen groaned from the floor, nearly knocked out cold from the blow Axis had delivered to his head.

The princess stomped two steps in front of him and didn't bother looking back at him to prove her point. "I thought I'd already made it clear on the way down that _I_ am the one who's in front. _Always_."

"And what about the demon who's actually an overlord? You're a lower rank, _bratness_, so _you_ should walk behind _me_!"

"Shut up, Vassal!" Axis snapped, glaring at La-something from over her shoulder. "You want those levels back or not?"

She turned away from him to look at the door in front of them. It possessed the familiar crest of this Netherworld's royal family, a pair of demon wings. It wasn't really as big as you'd expect, though. It was just a door. A small one. Axis was a little confused. Weren't the doors in this castle normally huge or doubled? Cautiously, she reached out a hand towards it, but then she stopped halfway, hesitant.

"…Axis? Somethin' wrong?" Glen asked from behind her, who must have recovered from that thwack on the head. Axis snapped out of her hesitation the only way she could think reasonable: by lifting a booted foot and bashing it against the door, sending it swinging inward and, as a result, detaching from its hinges. As it fell to the floor within the darkened room, there was a brief moment where all three of them paused.

"...Even_ I_ have to admit that was unnecessary."

"…Shut up, Vassal," Axis mumbled to the one in the red scarf, and she took the first steps in the room.

The darkness of the room was not dominant. There was a faint glow that was just visible within the room, emitting from a source that Axis could not see. She looked around to see if there was anything inside, but not even her demon eyes could pick anything up. There was the shuffle of footsteps behind her and out of instinct her axe materialised in her hands and she swung it around to whoever was behind her. It was stopped by the hand of her overlordly-vassal.

"Why the hell do you keep attacking me?" he growled, shoving the blade away from his neck. Axis reluctantly de-summoned her axe and stood over the one with blue hair, exchanging a glare.

"Exactly _how many_ levels do you have against me?"

"Considering my opinion of you right now, _all of them_," he quipped.

"Got a light," Glen interrupted, holding up a flashlight and shining it at their feet. The other two would have to save their angry dialogue exchange for later. "Can we look for that Gateway now?"

"_Look fer it? What a' ya talkin' 'bout, it's right 'ere!"_

The two demon children whipped out their bladed weapons and got into their fighting stances at the sound of the extra, slurred voice echoing in the room. "Who's there?" they both snapped simultaneously.

"G-guys?" Glen carefully nudged the head of Axis's axe away from his neck. He looked at the two with a pissed off look more than the usual one of fear he had. "Why are you aiming at _me_?"

"Shut up," they both growled. A loud cackle made them react again and the sword and axe just got closer to Glen's neck.

"Seriously, what the hell?" he hissed, his visible fear coming back.

"_Y-you guys a' hee-lair-ree-us! Sing-cra-niced an' ev'rythin'!"_

"Take that back!" Axis yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the ceiling. She hesitated, unsure if she was even looking at anything in the darkness, and pointed in another direction of the ceiling. Damn, she couldn't pick up the direction of the echoing slurs or speech, other than the obvious 'up'. "Show yourself, you insolent bastard!"

"…First time I heard 'bastard' instead of the usual 'fool'," Glen muttered. He was promptly thwacked around the head again by a certain princess's fist.

"Silence, wimp, and stick with being the flashlight!" Axis looked back around the room and tried to pinpoint the voice again. "Gatekeeper, I demand you show yourself!"

"_*gigglesnort* Nuuuuh-uuuuuh! Ya can' talk ta me like that!"_

"GATEKEEPER! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE NOW!"

"_Ya didn' say puh-leeease!"_

"I'LL SAY IT ONCE YOU'RE DEAD AND BURIED!"

"Axis, do you even _have_ an indoor voice or is this just your default?" Glen mumbled, with a hint of sarcasm thrown in. Axis swung her axe around and held it to his throat again as a threat, seeing him in a reddened kind of vision. "L-Laharl, could you please help calm her down?"

"Nope, you're on your own." Axis let herself toss a glance in 'Laharl's' direction. He was standing there, looking 'thoughtful'. He smirked after a couple of silent moments, and lifted his sword up to the ceiling. "Show yourself, or you'll have to face me, coward! As an overlord I won't tolerate this behaviour!"

"…_Ov'alord? Well why didn' ya say sooo?"_

_THUD!_

And then, from the ceiling, came a monstrous creature. It slammed down to the floor, making tiny pieces of dust and stone quake beneath its feet. Axis could only assume this was one of those Gun Demons of some kind. It was a shade between dull purple and dreary blue, with big horns atop its head, red beady eyes and a big mouth with sharp teeth bared. On one of its big arms was a large gun barrel with multiple holes, hence her assumption previously.

The big blue-ish demon sat on the stone floor with a moronic grin, and he raised a clawed hand to show the bottle of a Netherworld-brand beverage. He hiccupped, and slurred, "Alrighty, Mista Ov'alord, I'm at yer service! So, when did good ol' Eliiise ree-tie-ya, eh?"

* * *

"Well, that did nothing," Etna muttered, looking at the charred cell door. There was steam and smoke from the blast of the missile, and a small chunk of the floor beneath the door had been dented in too, but the door and everything that it aligned with stayed perfectly whole. She strutted over and looked carefully at the dent beneath the door. Even a small part of it stayed perfect and flat to fit the vertical flat gap that would have formed beneath the door. _(__**AN**__: You don't know how painful it can be to repeat a word like 'door' once a sentence)_ Etna sighed and stood up, fiddling with the controls on the launcher so that there was a 'safety lock'. She had a good reason. "Hate to break it to you, Flonne, but your new friend here's in a cell with a barrier."

"WHAT?"

Etna looked at Flonne. She was still crouched on the floor with her fingers in her ears, the position she had assumed when Etna was firing the missile. Etna didn't really want to be patient. She was on the border between grouchy and just-plain-pissed, after all, what with the crashing and the not-getting-the-hell-out-of-here-ing. She pulled out her favourite red spear from thin air and used it to poke Flonne's arm a distance from her ear. "I said, 'Dungeon cell plus magic barrier equals no rescuing your friend'."

"But we only tried once!" Flonne jogged up and grabbed the missile launcher from Etna, attempting to get the target system online. "I'm sure if we just tried again - "

"Flonne, we're getting out of here." Grateful that her brilliant thinking had prevented Flonne from using the launcher with the lock on it, Etna grabbed her angel friend by the collar and started to drag her back towards the ship. "Just a whack and a few tweaks and this bucket will be good to go again. Besides, the prince must be catching on that we're not back home by _now_."

"Nope!" Etna's grasp lost its hold and Flonne tossed the missile launcher to the floor. It started beeping rapidly after bashing into a piece of debris but neither of the girls were paying attention. "Laharl can wait! He's got a bunch of vassals to do all sorts of dirty work and stuff!"

"Flonne, I know you were raised as a goody-two-shoes and all, but why can't you think like a normal, mean and selfish demon for once? You DID fall, remember?"

"I can think selfishly just fine, thank you!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! Really! And I can be mean too! That top of yours makes you look like a whore!"

"*gasp* You did NOT just go there!"

"Oh no! I did! I just c-called you a whore! W-why did I do that, why did I do that?"

"Two can play at this game! Ever since you switched to that legless leotard of yours, you've never looked more like a slut since I've known you!"

"*gasp* Take that back!"

"Um, Miss Flonne, Miss Etna?"

"WHAT?" Both demon girls screamed.

The pair of eyes through the peeping hole of the door looked over at the missile launcher on the ground. "I think your gun is broken."

The two looked at the launcher as well. They saw how it was shaking and growing and shrinking in a cartoon manner, and how it started glowing a hot red. They both squeaked 'uh-oh' and dove to the ground with their hands over their heads. The missile launcher exploded into several pieces, whizzing and shooting around the hallway of the dungeon in quick and unresting motions. They exploding into the walls, onto the indestructible doors and onto the floor, sending whatever chunks of rock they could flying into the air. It was the last of the missiles, though, that was the most cunning. It mischievously shot straight towards the rubble of the colourful little ship and erupted into a shower of sparks on contact, pushing the space vehicle just enough out through the hole in the wall for it to lose balance. It screeched out and began a long, loud decent into the chasm beneath it, making one last _'KA-BOOM'_.

Etna and Flonne sat up from the ground, hugging each other and looking at the empty hole in the wall. They both looked frazzled, shocked.

"…I-I'm sorry I called you a whore, Etna."

"…P-priorities… b-but I'm sorry about the slut thing too."

"…Miss Flonne? Forgive my asking, but what _is_ a 'hor-rer'?"

Etna glanced over at the door they had previously tried to break down. "Geez, kid, didn't anyone ever call your mom that? Or even your parents call someone else that?"

"No, never. Mother never taught me any bad words because she said I would go straight to the bad place if I did."

She sighed and shoved Flonne away from her, smoothing down her frizzed hair whilst she ignored Flonne complaining about hitting her head on the floor. "What is she, an _angel_ or something?"

The pair of teal eyes blinked from behind the little block of a peephole. "Oh course, Miss Etna. Why else would we live in Celestia and not the bad place?"

"WHAT?" Flonne screamed, shooting up from the floor and bumping into Etna. Etna was accidently knocked aside, and she hit her head against the floor. Ow, no wonder Flonne was complaining, that really hurt! Speaking of Flonne, she was standing right in front of the cell door looking so shocked that her jaw would have fallen off. "Y-you mean you're from Celestia?"

"Yes, Miss Flonne. Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet. Mother would be upset about that." One of the hands holding the unseen little angel up to the peephole pulled away from the gap and they heard him clear his throat. His eyes looked at Flonne, and if ever Etna had seen a pair of sincere and polite eyes before, this kid's eyes beat them. "My name is Emrys, Angel Apprentice. It is a pleasure meeting you both."

* * *

**Etna**: Next time, on _Super Duper Clinical Procedure!_ The beautiful and talented nurse Etna continues to find fame to rescue her from changing bedpans!  
**Flonne**: With the help of the Happy Sunshinse Volunteer Group Scout, cutesy miss Flonne!  
**Etna**: Hey, get your own preview!  
**Flonne**: What's wrong with sharing?  
**Etna**: Since when did we share?  
**Flonne**: …Um… we… shared… screentime in a non-Disgaea game?  
**Etna**: Now that I think about it, you still haven't really gotten used to being a Fallen Angel, have you?  
**Flonne**: Not really.  
**Etna**: It's a good thing I'm here then, otherwise you'd be dead by now.  
**Flonne**: …Um, Etna? Aren't we meant to be sticking with the –  
**?**: WHAT'RE YOU GUYS DOING WITH MY SLOT?  
**Etna**: In the next chapter of _Endless Night! Axis's Building Temper!  
_**Flonne**:_ Will she and her vassals make some progress?  
_**?**: HEY! Don't ignore me! HELLOOOOOO?

* * *

This. Has got. To stop. I can't keep delaying chapter progress! UGH! Damn you college! *kicks poster representation of college*

Ooooooh, I TOLD you the title wouldn't be relevant until the last part of the chapter! I'll clean up any errors and misspellings later, just so ya know. I gave Beatrice a little action, because I like her, and a reader named OverlordEtna (thank you for your message by the way =)) has told me that Axis seems to be a lot like Etna. Lately I've actually noticed some similarities between my OCs and canon characters that weren't intended (save for ACE MAXIMUS, who was intended to be an annoying stand-in for Gordon XD). And that's when it finally dawned on me whilst writing this chapter.

Axis = Laharl (Demon royalty)  
Glen = Etna (Non-royal demon)  
Emrys = Flonne (Angel, sort of)

I don't mean with personalities or anything (save for Axis maybe, though she'd louder and more annoying and less powerful), just the roles they take. So yeah, you might be thinking they're rip-offs or something. 0_0 Fear not though, they'll bring their characters to development and to light as the story keeps going… I hope… someone shoot me T_T

**?: **Don't worry! You've still got me coming up soon! And I'm completely original!

…O-oh yeah. I um… nearly forgot that… (Why do I get the feeling that this one's gonna reduce my readers?)

Later Days! Don't worry, I'll be sure to get the next chapter on the go ASAP!


	8. Axis's Building Temper

Okay, I'm going to stop trying to be a feedback whore starting… now!

**DISCLAIMER:** Because…  
This. Is. Not. Canon.  
How. Clichéd. Is. That?

* * *

Axis's Building Temper

"My name is Emrys, Angel Apprentice. It is a pleasure meeting you both."

"Angel _apprentice_?" Etna asked, sceptical. Did that mean this kid was a trainee or a full angel? Curious, she looked to Flonne. "Hey Flonne, what kind of - "

"Emrys?" Flonne squeaked, cutting Etna short. She would have tried to repeat herself, but there was something about the look on Flonne's face that made her save it. Her ex-angel companion looked all panicky all of a sudden. Interesting. She chose to let Flonne continue, wanting to see where this was going. "A-a-as in 'Ms Fairfeather's s-son', Emrys?"

"Yes, that's right Miss Fl - "

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" she wailed, grabbing the ends of her red hair ribbon and tugging them. Flonne only did that when she was really anxious, as Etna had only seen her do this nervous tick when she got really worked up. Flonne slammed her hands against the cell door and squeaked, "We _have_ to get you back to Celestia! How long have you been locked up like this?" she demanded.

Etna had to hand it to Emrys; he looked blissfully ignorant of Flonne's sudden switch, unless he was actually aware and just knew how to tolerate this behaviour. She watched the teal eyes that were all either of the girls could see of Emrys looked from one of them to the other. "If I remember right, I think that I've been in this cell for… two… years, perhaps?"

"T-two YEARS?" Flonne stumbled back. She looked ready to pass out from shock and it took all of Etna's willpower not to snicker at how silly she looked. "This is bad, very baaaaaad… my heeeaaad…"

"Wow, kiddo, that's a long time to be in the slammer, even for a demon," Etna commented, wondering how he had been holding up for this long. Maybe angels could go for a long while without food? Warmth? Comfortable surroundings? Or was it just a quality that only an 'angel apprentice' had? With that last question in her head, Etna remembered what she had been saying before Flonne interrupted her. With a sly smile, Etna pounced at Flonne, grabbed her white-frilled shoulders and flashed a sharp-toothed grin. "Oooh, this sounds juicy! Alright Flonne, spill."

"Sp-spill what?"

"Why's this little angel kid got you so worked up? What's with the 'apprentice' that's made you so pale… -er."

"Uuuuhh. Well…" Flonne shot a quick glance at what little they could see of Emrys through the peephole and, keeping her eyes there, casually began to shuffle further away from his cell door. She motioned for Etna to follow. "Sorry, Emrys, but could you please excuse us for a second?"

"Of course, Miss Flonne. Do you want me to stand further away from the door?"

"If you don't mind, thank you."

"Not a problem, Miss Flonne."

The girls were a good distance away from Emrys's cell so that he would not be able to overhear them, so long as they kept their voices down. Etna looked at Flonne with mischief in her eyes. "So what's the deal with angel-boy here?"

"He's the only son of Ms Fairfeather, one of Celestia's toughest and meanest Angel Trainee teachers," Flonne whispered back, clutching her head-ribbon so tight that Etna thought such a grip would draw blood. The fallen angel fidgeted nervously under Etna's pressing gaze. "She made all angel trainees in my class do vigorous training, saying how we should always be prepared to combat evil and such. Seraph Lamington only just made her alter her teaching style because a number of us were so terrified of her! …She's… uuumm…"

"Flonne?"

"…Y-yes?"

"Y'know the kid's not listening. You can call her whatever you want."

"B-but _she's his_ _mother_! I-it would be too rude! How could you suggest doing something like that?" the blonde hissed, frowning at Etna with a stubborn burning in her eyes.

Etna could only sigh. Why did Flonne have to be so insistent with 'manners' and 'morals' and whatnot? She swung an arm around Flonne's neck and pulled her close so that their cheeks were touching. "C'mooon, you know you want to say it. Just describe 'Ms Merryweather' or whatever in three words or less for me and I won't ask you to do it again… concerning _her_ at least." When Flonne started to fidget and avoid eye contact, Etna continued to pressure her by means of poking her in the cheek. "And need I remind you that you're not-so-sweet an angel anymore, considering, oh I dunno, you've _fallen_, right?"

"…"

"Fine," Etna sighed, forced to do the most cheesiest, Flonne-like thing that she would have to do to get her way. She held up her free hand and stuck out her pinky. _This had better be worth the dirt._ "Just whisper it in my ear and I'll help you bust your 'boyfriend' out of here."

"…"

"_And_ I promise I won't tell a soul, be they demon, human, kishin or in a Prinny puppet, 'kay?"

It took a few moments for Flonne to think it over. Almost reluctantly accepting her favourite, childish way of promises, Flonne wrapped her own pinky around Etna's and the shook hands. She put a hand over her mouth and whispered in Etna's pointy ear.

"…*gaaasp* Nooo way!" Etna gasped, yanking herself away and smiling like a Cheshire cat in a wonderland. "She's *pfft*… she's _that_ bad, huh?" When she started to shiver, she had to cover her mouth to force it to stay shut. But her effort wasn't enough and she knew it. Etna clutched her sides tight and began to cackle at the top of her lungs, unable to stop herself. "Ah-haaaaa, hahahahahaha, HAAAAAAA! I can't believe you actually _said_ that!"

"Etna, he'll hear you!" Flonne squeaked, pulling her long hair in front of her tomato-red face out of embarrassment. Etna spared her no mercy, though. Because she was _literally rolling on the floor laughing_.

"Hahahahahaa - I-I've – hahaha - that the w-worst, m-most – HAHAHAHAHA - f-foul and horrible thing – hahahahaHAHAHA - I've ever heard anyone saaaaay - HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A-and I've - hahahahaha lived for fourteen centuries - HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!"

"Etna, please stop it!"

"Hahaha! Hoooo-boy – HAHAHAhahaHAHA - I'm g-gonna _have_ to help you now! I owe you BIG for making you – BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Emrys had, by now, wandered back to the peephole out of curiosity. He poked his hands through the hole and hoisted himself up to look through, and he saw Miss Etna rolling around on the floor making the loudest sounds imaginable and crying. Had she been injured? And why was Miss Flonne's hair wrapped around her head?

* * *

"Gatekeeper!" Axis snapped, marching up to the Gun Demon until she was two big strides away. She swung her axe around to rest it on her shoulder and pointed a finger at the big blue monster. "As princess of the Netherworld I demand you prepare the portal for departure at once!"

"…*hiccup* Nope."

Axis growled and took another stride forward. "Gatekeeper, you are hereby ordered to be sober! Get the portal ready!"

"I ain' *hiccup* doin' it."

This time Axis closed as much distance possible to prod her finger in between the monster's eyes. "GATEKEEPER! PORTAL! NOW!" Something hard bashed into her stomach area just as she finished her command. The demon in front of her grinned and several glowing bullets fired from his gun hand, sending Axis flying across the dark and empty room and back out the door. She felt her back slam into the column of the spiral staircase outside and slid to the floor in a heap.

"You *hiccup* ain' in chaaarge, lady!"

Axis snapped her head up and growled. She could see everything going red. Damn, that was annoying! She clutched her axe in hand and jumped back up onto her feet. She took one step back and charged towards the demon, zooming through the doorway into the room. And then her axe got jammed, being too big to fit through the doorframe. Axis's hands lost grip on her weapon and the momentum sent her hurtling into the room, tumbling on the floor and stopping at the Gun Demon's feet. She glared up at him. "I also order you to get a bigger door!"

She was merely shoved away as the demon took another swig of his bottle of Beelzebub Beer.

"Princess or *hic* nnnnnot, you ain' tellin' meh what ta dooo." He pointed his gun-barrelled arm towards the midget, the one who had been called 'Laharl' (Axis couldn't remember who called him that). "Heeee's teh Ova-looord. I only work fer *hic* 'im, jus' like Eliiiiiiiiise told meh ta!"

"…WHAT?" Axis shrieked, sitting up and slamming her hands into the floor. Her fingers dug into the stone like it were merely weak soil._ (Consistency: Axis has _none_ when it comes to her strength. It happens in games with other characters, so I assume it's 'cutscene logic' or whatever)_

Speaking of that midget, he was now smirking down at her, his arms folded and his red scarf twisting in the air above him like it had been frozen in place. "Well, what do you know? 'Overlord' DOES outrank your title, 'bratness'."

Axis snarled at him, her hands crushing what was left of the solid flooring beneath her. She would have already taken a swing at Laharl and sliced off his head by now if her weapon weren't lodged in an absurdly small doorframe. What was wrong with that door in the first place?

"Ax - "

"YOURHIGHNESSORMYLADY!" Only the canines of the most advanced hearing should have been able to hear the deafening shriek that erupted from the princess's mouth. She refused to take her red gaze off of the triumphant royal opposite her, but was able to catch, what even she would consider to be amusing, the dazed stumbling of Glen as he held his hands over his pointed ears. Served him right to interrupt her burning fury towards the small being who had the nerve to humiliate his master.

Still, the thief refused to use either title. She picked up that he purposely avoided addressing her after her correction, something she would make him suffer for later.

"W-we found the G-g-g-g-Gatekeeper. Let's just d-do what you dragged us here for." Glen appeared to be shaking his head furiously as though to cure whatever dizziness was making him stumble about like the fool that he was. He tried to assume a casual stance with his hands behind his head, but it took visible effort to keep himself standing and he clearly wasn't steady. Axis's snarling reduced to a growl as she finally took her glare from Laharl and fully focused attention on the idiot nearby. "'sides, we've got b-better things to do with the time we're wasting arguing. I've g-got to look for Simon."

"That damned pet of yours?" Axis spat, kicking herself up from the floor and slapping her hands to her hips. She was facing Laharl with only her eyes in a sideways glance towards Glen. "When you're a vassal, your master's orders are always more important that annoying little pests like a Geo Monster."

Glen frowned. "He's not my pet, he's my - "

"HEY! BACK ON TOPIC!" The room shivered at the boom of Laharl's voice. With an irritated little snarl Axis looked back to the blue-haired little bastard three metres away. He had a pissed-off look similar to that of a dragon with its slumber disturbed. Laharl finally moved and walked over to the Gun Demon, who he nudged in the arm with his foot. Wait, had the monster been sleeping during this time? Incompetence! But instead of addressing something so obvious to Axis, the young Overlord continued, "He's listening to me, so I'd suggest hurrying up and explaining what we're here for before I tell this drunk to close up shop."

"He's right, Axis, just what ARE we - "

"Your Highness or - "

"Yeah, yeah, 'My Lady'." Glen was starting to get a little too cocky for her liking.

Axis didn't at all wish to inform her mere vassals of her plan, so she focused her sight on the boozed-up creature who was just waking up from his brief (and punishable) nap as she thought it over. She supposed that she _might_ tell them just a brief outline of the purpose of coming down here. It would keep them quiet for a while so she wouldn't hear their questioning incessantly getting on her last nerve. After thinking it over, Axis let out a long sigh and decided she would grace her lowly servants with a teensy bit of knowledge.

"We're going to Magma Geyser. We find my target, get information and then rip him apart. Simple as that."

* * *

"Etna!" Flonne hissed from the entrance to the dungeons. She was flushing as red as her accessories thanks to the giggles and snorts Etna couldn't contain. The fallen angel stomped her foot and puffed up her cheeks. "Would you please stop laughing and hurry up?"

"Alright, alright, I'm *pfft* g-going," Etna called, turning on her heel and strolling away from the big wooden door. Geez, Flonne had to lighten up a little. Etna was only teasing about it being the _foulest_ series of words in the universe. They were only the foulest series of words _she_ had ever heard come from someone's mouth. She waved a hand over her shoulder as a goodbye to Flonne, whose gaze was still on her. "I'll be back when I find your boyfriend's way out. Try not to teach him any of your naughty words, okay?"

"ETNA!"

"I'm going!" Etna clutched her sides and began a mini-laughing fit. She had enough distance from Flonne for the fallen angel to not bother with coming after her.

In return for coaxing Flonne into getting in touch with her demon side, Etna had agreed to scour the building for anything that would get Emrys out of his cell. A key, some kind of lock-breaking spell, an enclosed instruction book, anything that would keep Flonne happy for now. Speaking of Flonne, she was staying behind with Emrys to keep him company.

The hallway leading away from the dungeon was, from the looks of it, a dungeon in itself. It was long and tall and made of cold, grey and miserable stone floors and walls. Many heavy, wooden double-doors, all of which with different but all equally evil symbols to identify different cell blocks, and the wood looked all charred or rotten or splintered. And yet, even when she checked the doors that looked the weakest of all of the rows, it was perfectly solid and obediently opened without much more than a weary creak. Etna even peeked inside to see a hallway of cells just like the one she had left Flonne and Emrys in. All of the doors were collecting dust, there were cobwebs hanging in ceiling corners and all of the locks were rusted and unusable.

She pulled out of the unused cell block and closed the wooden door behind her. With a dungeon this big, this old and with this many cells, Etna could only assume that perhaps it was from one of the most ancient of Netherworlds. But she couldn't help recall the row of cells she and Flonne had crashed into. The locks on cell doors had been rusted too, but there were the two that weren't and looked freshly used. Emrys's cell was a no brainer: he'd been locked up two years before if he was right so if magic was keeping him in it would keep the lock fresh too, right? But what about the other one? Was there another prisoner in there or something else?

It didn't really have much use as knowledge either way. All Etna had to do for now was find something to get the little angel out and keep Flonne satisfied for now. With a sigh, Etna picked up her pace and continued down the hallway of the many cell blocks of the old dungeon.

When she reached the end, a huge pair of double-doors greeted her. These doors did not match any of the wooden or metal ones she had already discovered. These doors were tall, elaborate and made of much newer, tidier wood than the rotted ones. Etna walked right up to them and pressed her hands against them. It shouldn't be too hard to open these doors at her level after all. But when she pushed nothing happened. Etna frowned and pushed against the doors again, this time much harder. Still nothing. Etna took a deep breath and pushed all her weight against them but neither door made any movement or any noise. She slid to the floor with a grunt and got her breath back. There weren't any handles on these so she knew that it was a matter of pushing them and not pulling them open. Something must have been blocking the way out from the other side.

"…Floor doesn't look so tough," she spoke aloud to herself, making a couple of hard stomps on the floor. One of the stones that were meant to be cemented into the floor shifted from its place and Etna grinned. She got to her feet and pulled out her red spear _(Note: I can't describe it well since my writer's block _hates_ the weapon in Etna's D2 artwork DX)_, mumbling to herself as she dug up with of her Specials would be of use. When it finally came back to her, she grinned and faced the solid doors. With her spear twirling in her hand, she called out the words, "Asteroid Drop!"

It hardly took ten seconds to finish what she wanted to do. She had started to spin around on the spot, hover into the air and then flip and dive head first into the stone floor. It broke apart like sawdust as she drilled through it with her attack and before she knew it, she had already surfaced from the floor. Etna's spinning began to slow until she came to a stop. She took a couple of steps away from the small hole she had freshly created in the floor and looked behind her. Yep, there was the door to the dungeon. And yep, it was looked tight. The lock had chains criss-crossing over the huge double doors in a familiar manner, but there was no emblazed lock on it this time. Just a simple big padlock.

"…I was expecting this to be a little more reliable," Etna sighed, somewhat disappointed. She raised her spear and threw it at the simple lock. It struck a bullseye and the whole thing broke apart into pieces of rusty metal and springs and cogs and whatnot. The chains followed suit; they all crumbled like brittle cheese and dissolved into nothing. She huffed, yanked her spear from where it pierced the door and turned her back on the entrance. "That was anticlimactic."

Then again, why was she complaining? Sure, it would make this even more of a boring chore, but maybe this was a sign that perhaps finding a way to bust Emrys out wouldn't be a hassle. Etna began to strut away from the doors when something in her peripheral vision caused her to stop. It was small, it was blue and it made hollow, wooden sounds on the floor as it moved. A Prinny.

"Hey you!" she called, her hands on her hips as she spun around to look at the puppet of a sinful soul. It squeaked and started to scurry away faster. Etna hopped off from the ground and her wings grew from their unusable size to one with which they could use to fly. She flew through the air and reached the Prinny, grabbed it by its own wings and pulled it off of the ground. Etna hovered in place and questioned the Prinny she held in her grip. "I'm not in the mood for a chase scene. You see that dungeon?"

The penguin doll looked at her with the white of its eyes and nodded, whimpering.

"I happen to have a new 'buddy' locked up in the slammer and I thought maybe you could help me." She gave it a smile that wasn't as sweet as her voice implied; it was a threatening smile. "Know any way to open those doors?"

"You n-n-n-n-n-need to rem-m-m-move their emblems d-d-d-d-d-dood!" the Prinny stuttered, fidgeting to pry itself from Etna's hand. "Th-th-th-th-that's what we d-d-d-did to get our friend out d-d-d-d-d-dood!"

"Interesting," Etna mumbled, carefully lowering the Prinny to the ground. She settled down from the air and her wings shrunk back to their rested size. She towered above the little penguin with her evil little smile still in place. "And just how do I do that? Or should I just go ahead and ask one of your 'friends'?"

The Prinny looked ready to answer through its whimpering state when it looked around her and gasped. Etna straightened up and did the same. Was this Prinny looking at her butt or her skirt or something? Pervert. She's have to get back at him for –

"You're the Prinny Queen!"

"…What?" Etna looked back at the Prinny only to be taken aback. It was suddenly on the floor bowing to her, shivering and sweating with even more fear than before. She frowned and leant down to poke it in the head. "Prinny… what?"

"F-f-f-f-forgive me, My Lady! I should've realised sooner!" The Prinny slowly looked up at her from the floor, ready to burst into tears. Whether they were of joy or terror, however, Etna could not tell. "The red flames of her hair, the sly smile of her malevolence and the dolls of those she commands for all to see! I d-d-d-d-d-didn't believe it was you until just now, d-d-d-dood!"

Etna was speechless. _Prinny_ Queen? She'd never been called that before. Many a time had she overheard foul namecallings the Prinnies would mutter when they thought she was out of earshot, but never Prinny Queen. Was this Prinny kidding around? "Is this some kind of joke?"

"N-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no, Your D-d-d-d-d-doodness, dood!"

Etna could tell that this little vessel for a soul was telling the truth; it would have been shivering a lot more if it were lying. She thought over the signs this puppet was telling her; 'red flames for hair' must have been her pigtails, 'sly smile of malevolence' sounded most definitely like her and… 'dolls of those she commands'? Etna didn't think that applied to her until she remembered; she had two chibi Prinny dolls strapped to the back of her belt. So that must have been what the Prinny was looking at. Alright, so it wasn't a pervert. "…Exactly… how long has this 'Prinny Queen' been around for?" she asked, tapping her chin and looking down at the Prinny.

It squeaked and bowed its head to the floor again. "Centuries, My-High-Majestic-Almighty-Beautiful-Prinny-Queen-Lady-samaaaaa! All Prinnies have heard of your existence in legends, prophecies, even all of the nursery rhymes you so greatly make tragic in the last sentences! …Dood!"

"Interesting," Etna mumbled, resisting the urge to crush this Prinny's head in. If it was telling the truth, her own Prinnies at home had a lot of explaining to do. Legends, prophecies and nursery rhymes that lasted for centuries surely didn't fall on deaf ears in her home Netherworld. She regained composure, choosing to save the satisfaction of a Prinny massacre for later, leaned back over the Prinny and regained her smile. "Ahem. Well then, as 'Prinny Queen', I decree that you shall henceforth serve me!"

"Of c-c-c-c-c-course, My-High-Majestic-Almighty - "

"Just 'Queen' will do. Now, about that 'buddy' I mentioned."

This 'Prinny Queen' thing sounded like she could have some fun with this title.

* * *

"Aaaaaalllll *hic* done."

"…Woah." Glen stared, speechless, at the huge circle of green swirling mass in front of the trio. It was… huge. And… in the floor. No wonder there was so much space in this room. He slowly looked up at the drunk demon behind them, letting Laharl and Axis gape at the huge Dimension Gateway. "Is it… supposed to be green?"

"Tha's wut ya get when ya don' *hic* use a portal fer a hooooole millennium. And yaaaaa can all call meh *hic* Carl." The demon collapsed onto the floor and made the room tremble. He shook his empty bottle with misery and tossed it over to the corner to let it break. "With an eeeeiiiiich ('h'). Tha's wut Eliiiiiiiise called meh… ya kids got any boobz on ya?"

"…What did he say?" Axis growled eventually, slowly turning her head around in stiff movements.

A little concerned of the consequences should she spin her head around into an unnatural position, Glen intervened, with the same annoyance and some amount of confusion as Axis. "I think he was trying to say 'booze'."

"Tha's wut I sled!" Cahrl declared, pointing his gunned arm to the ceiling and firing once. All of them covered their heads, expecting parts of the ceiling to cave in and fall on their heads. Glen peeked out from under his arms, but saw that the only thing that fell was a pebble. It 'p'tonked' on Cahrl's head and the big demon's arm fell to the ground and a loud snoring filled the room.

Laharl didn't look too bothered but seemed just as annoyed as Axis about Cahrl's behaviour. Then Glen saw a small on the smallest one's face as he turned attention to Axis and started to gloat. "I think it's pretty clear who's got the advantage here; I'm stronger, I've got a better title _and_ I can get _your own castle's servants_ to obey me!" Glen took a couple of steps back and folded his arms, sighing. This was a fight waiting to happen, he knew it. "It's just a matter of time before I find those levels of mine and wipe you from existence!"

Axis growled and pointed right at Laharl. "SHUT UP, VASSAL! You wouldn't be able to find those levels even if I was so weak as to give you a hint of its location!"

"…Aaand," Glen began to chime in, staring at the ceiling with nothing in particular on his mind (other than where Simon might have gone), "there's the technicality that this isn't even Axis's castle."

"YourHighnessorMyLady!" Axis spat. Glen felt something smack him on the back of the head, which he expected. But then he spotted the last glimpse of the green portal just an inch from his face, which he did not expect.

Thanks to Axis's thwack around the head Glen had fallen through the floor portal. When he went through it was like the stuff of nightmares. He was falling. At least, it felt like falling, but he was too disoriented to be certain. He couldn't tell if he was going up or down through this massive green vortex, with bright streaks of light flashing by and even through him. Glen's body felt like it was being pulled at as though something wanted to tear him apart. A loud buzz of various sounds and voices rang through his ears; he would have moved to cover them but his arms and legs felt stiff and unable to move. This was the portal? He could guess why it might not have been used for so long; the experience of going through was too sickening tolerate.

And then it finally ended when a bright orange glow engulfed him and spat him out onto hard, gritty rock.

"Ow," Glen groaned. He moved to get up off the ground slowly because is limbs felt as though there were pins and needles stabbing into his skin. He was aching all over when he made to get himself kneeling upright and it didn't help his condition at all now that it was boiling hot. …Boiling hot? Glen paid attention to his surroundings at last and had to gulp something down.

The ground, or what was left of it, was made from brown rock, broken up into narrow paths and stepping stones across a huge lake of magma and lava. The sky was of pitch black smoke and cloud, closer to the ground that natural, and the only light there came from the glow of the deadly lake around him. There was an almost deafening hiss some distance away as a stream of lava spat up from a patch of 'ground', spraying amber droplets everywhere. Glen had to resist the urge to whimper when he scrambled away from the geyser's spray radius. He had been expecting something of this environment's nature but nothing this extreme. Perhaps a volcano and _not_ a molten wasteland. Volcanoes he could handle, he had been in one. But strangely enough this place seemed even hotter that a volcano. It had such an unpleasant feeling to it, if that made sense.

There was a bright flash of green from above and Axis landed next to Glen with a big more dignity intact; she managed to land on her hands and knees and not flat on her face. She blew some of her stray green hair from her face and looked around, presumably for Glen. "Wimp! Where the hell are you?" Yep, for him. Glen raised a hand to catch her attention but she didn't get to spot him.

There was another flash and Axis was slammed into the ground when Laharl landed on her back. He sat on her with his legs crossed as he stretched out his arms. "Geez, what kind of Gate was _that_?"

"It's a Gate_way_ and GET OFF ME!" Axis tried to shove him off of her back but he stayed put, now stretching his legs out in front of him. Axis growled when she was unable to move and finally spotted Glen. She pointed at him and yelled, "Vassal, get Vassal off me right now!"

"I'm not done yet!" Laharl snapped, rubbing his shoulder and moving his arm in a circle. "I've still got pins and needles, Bratness!"

"So have I! And it's Your Highness or - "

"If I haven't said it now, I'm not gonna say it. Ever."

"YOU WILL CALL ME AS ORDERED, VASSAL!"

"Ax - *ahem* 'My Lady'," Glen began, walking over and kneeling next to Axis's head. She glared at him with such disdain, but Glen didn't feel to affected by it; there was no reason he should anyway, now that he thought about it. "So who are we after again?"

After another failed attempt at trying to get Laharl off of her (he was either heavier than he looked or Axis simply wasn't strong enough to move him, Axis snarled and gripped the lukewarm rock they were all on. "You only vassals! All you should know is that you need to kill who I say!"

"If we know more we'd probably be more helpful."

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!"

"Yeah, right." Glen tossed a look at Laharl, and Laharl did visa versa. They were both in agreement apparently, since they had just said the same thing at the exact same time. Laharl seemed as though he was choosing to ignore it because he grunted and turned away, getting back to working off whatever aches he had let from the Gate trip. Glen went back to 'interrogating' Axis. "If you didn't need our help then we wouldn't be here anyway."

"I don't need _anyone's_ help!" Axis spat through gritted teeth. She shifted under Laharl and managed to slip out from under him. He bumped down onto the rock and shot an annoyed look at Axis as she got up to her own feet. She just turned her back to them both and dusted off her front, clearly wobbling from the same numb and aching feelings as the other two but trying to hide it. There was silence amongst them, with only the background sound from the bubbling lava and hisses from geysers farther away. Then finally Axis 'graced' them with some words.

"I'm looking for a snitch. He deals in information. Buys it, sells it, steals it, leaks it. He's a lazy bum who does nothing but make shady dealings and horde all his stuff." She paused as a geyser close to the trio spat out more lava. When it fell quiet once more, she kept going. "The Overlord's not in the castle anywhere. He used to deal with the snitch when I last saw him, and the snitch hasn't left Magma Geysers in years because of all his worthless pile of junk."

"So when you said we're getting information, you mean we're beating him until he cracks or until he's nothing but pulp." Laharl didn't say it as a question. Glen watched as he stood up and noticed the evil smirk on the young overlord's face. "I wonder _how much_ information he has."

"It's completely reasonable to think that the snitch would have information of most things to do with the Netherworlds. He must be selling information to do with _you_, Vassal," Axis said. She purposely turned around just to give the blue-haired demon a smug smile.

It worked because Laharl was instantly fuming and crushing a rock in his hand (when did he pick up that rock exactly?). "That bastard! He's the one who tipped off those mercenaries? Even if those punks were easy I'm still gonna make him pay!"

It was Glen's turn to get back up on his feet. While Laharl was in a crushing spree as he picked up rocks and crushed them into dust to vent somewhat, Glen was more interested in something else Axis had said earlier. "You said we'd be tearing him apart after we got information. Why would we do that?"

Axis's smile disappeared and she frowned at Glen as though he had asked the most redundant thing in the world. She even looked reluctant to provide him an answer (maybe she didn't want to appear 'nice' enough to tell him) but she spoke in the end. "Why else? He's a liability therefore he should be killed instantly. There's nothing else I want to get out of him and I'm behind schedule enough as it is with the overlord missing. There's also the inevitable; the snitch will rat us out to someone, perhaps even the overlord if he's still a contact, so it makes sense to prevent him from doing that."

"Killing him would be wrong." That was all Glen felt he needed to say. That was all he hoped he could say to get Axis to just think about it again, let alone change her mind. But it wasn't. She glared at him and then turned on her heel, walking along one of the winding rock paths.

"I don't have time for distractions!" she shouted, not bothering to look back at them. "Vassals, let's go! We need to pick up the pace!"

Glen glared at the back of her head but slowly began to follow her lead anyway, with Laharl close behind. Axis wanted to kill this 'snitch' because of it being a risk and she had gotten Laharl to want the same thing by mentioning the possibility of information on him (he was also curious about what Laharl meant by those mercenaries). They were demons so naturally these kind of things were normal, but Glen couldn't understand it their way. Why did other demons talk of murder so casually?

* * *

She was darting about inside the castle, avoiding being spotted by the passing Prinnies and that one maid cleaning windows. She had to admit that the castle itself looked a lot better than the one room Ace had described to her. Too bad they fixed the hole in the wall, she wanted to see the cool weapons for herself.

There were yucky cobwebs in the corners she hid in, horrible smells from the kitchen with whatever demon food they cooked and dim, dreary light from the windows. This place was what she had suspected, what everyone back home had suspected. Dark and dreary.

"_Come on, I haven't got all day!"_

"_Yes, your Queenness, dood!"_

She stopped swinging from hiding spot to hiding spot when a voice echoed in the vast area of the hallway she was in now. There was a girl. A girl with little bat wings, a tail and big, bright red horns. No, pigtails. And she was leading a group of Prinnies through a pair of huge open doors. She watched carefully as the disappeared through the doors and she could almost feel her eyes shine with the determination she felt.

"You demons are gonna get it!" she snickered, sliding down the curtain she was clinging to. "Don't worry, Acey, I won't let you down!"

* * *

**?:** Behold, the final chapter! The demons of Endless Nights meet their end!  
**Laharl**: Hey Glen, got any aspirin?  
**Glen**: No, Axis took it from me.  
**Laharl**: Dammit.  
**?**: Ace Maximus is forced to take a break on the sidelines while his talented sidekick makes her daring appearance!  
**Glen**: You wanna play Netheropoly or something?  
**Laharl**: Nah, they don't have me as a player piece.  
**Glen**: Why would they?  
**Laharl**: Because I'm the FIRST main character! Without me the franchise would shrivel and die!  
**?**: With her powers no demon can defeat her, and at last her homeworld shall be free of the overlord's tyranny!  
**Glen**: If you're so important then you'd think you'd be the main character in more than one game.  
**Laharl**: I KNOW! But it's always Etna or Flonne or some new wannabe, it makes me sick!  
**?**: HEY! Are you even paying attention anymore?  
**Laharl & Glen**: No.  
**?**: FINE! In the final chapter of Endless Nights!_ Enter the Second Banana! The information broker and a sidekick's monkey blast!_  
**Laharl & Glen**: …Sidekick's monkey blast?  
**?**: You're just jealous 'cause my Special sounds cooler!

* * *

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Dammitdammitdammitdammit! Why can't I update on time? T_T

And no, it's not the final chapter next… it's the final chapter in which little miss question mark will actually get a name.  
**?:** And then the demons will fall to my power!  
Shut up, I'm sleepy. I'll grammar check this and the previous chapter and update when I can.

Later Days, doods!


	9. Enter the Second Banana

…Huh… going cold turkey on being a feedback addict… it's a lot more unnerving than I thought… heh, I d-don't feel… desperate… at all… heh-heh…

**DISCLAIMER:** Because…  
This. Still. Isn't. Canon.  
Getting. Sick. Of. This. Yet?

* * *

Enter the Second Banana

"This is wrong."

"Shut up."

"This is wrong."

"Shut up!"

"This. Is. Wrong."

"SHUT UP!"

Laharl balled his hands into fists. He was following behind the two otherworld demons, both of whom caught in a game of verbal tennis. They were at a point in their trek across the Magma Geysers when they had to cross a lake of lava with molten stepping stones. Axis and Glen were hopping from molten rock to molten rock, making their way across the lava lake whilst they tossed the same childish things back and forth. What age were they, 300?

"I won't stop saying it until you admit it!"

"_NE-VER_."

"This is wrong and you know it!"

"I'm a demon, you dumbass! That's. Why. I'm. DOING IT!"

"Demon or not, murder's still murder! Wrong."

"Shut up!"

"Wrong!"

"Shut up or I kill you!"

"BOTH OF YOU PUT A MACE IN YOUR MOUTHS AND SHUT YOUR TRAPS!" Laharl finally snapped, yelling down at them from above. It was only just now that they must have even noticed how Laharl was following; his scarf had shifted into its winged form and he was using the easy route across the lake.

And the first thing Axis said in reaction was, "Did I _say_ you could fly, Vassal?"

"No, but look, I'm _doing it anyway_!" he quipped back, shifting his sight back to the other end of the lake. He heard the annoying buzz of Axis ranting and tried his best to block her out.

Why didn't he keep his guard up and annihilate this bratty princess when he had the chance? Why the hell did he have to investigate that new location? And why the (bleep) did Flonne and Etna have to go adventuring without him in the first place? …He'd never really touched the subject of why that bothered him so much before. Maybe… did he miss them? Did he actually miss the demon who never gave him pudding, even when he ordered her too? Did he actually miss the angel who preached about love so much he puked?

…Well, compared to a _thief_ preaching about _morals_ that demons _didn't_ _have_, and a princess who was a really, really, _really_ tedious chore to put up with (especially since she liked to speak in CAPSLOCK), he would admit that _maybe_ he missed the former pair whilst with the latter pair.

"…and just because you're an overlord doesn't mean you can disobey you master! HEY! VASSAL! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"

"Nope."

"DAMN YOU! FURY NEEDLES!"

Laharl looked down. A group of glowing, needle points of Axis' energy was flying straight for him. Of course, he expected this much. Axis hadn't attempted any physical violence on him or Glen for almost an hour now, so of course she'd make up for it by sending a stronger attack on one of them. Of course using up her SP to do it, instead of conserving it for a fight, was _stupid_.

Laharl sighed and ducked down away from the energy. It was easy enough to avoid, he thought, since she seemed to be having trouble with her aim. But then Axis actually took him by surprise and caught him off guard. She sent one last needle at him and it flew past his neck, barely missing the surface of the cuff around it.

And he heard something. A sweet, soft little chime that stirred up some kind of motion sickness in the pit of his stomach. He knew that chime. Laharl's eyes went wide and he looked down at his chest beneath his scarf. Flonne's pendant, a golden chain with the purple Celestian gem, was no longer hanging around his neck. It was falling down into the lava, the chain severed by little fizzing sparks of purple.

"Damn it!" he cursed, diving down after it. He reached out his hand and grabbed at it to stop its fall, but it slipped away every time and eventually landed and sunk into the lava. Laharl pulled up and ceased his decent just above the lake surface. Damn it! Where'd it go?

"Hey, Laharl! Be careful, that lava's hot!"

"Vassal, I hereby change your name from Wimpy to _Obvious!_"

Laharl ignored them. He was glaring intently at the lava beneath him. Geez, he already dove for that necklace once before, and that was because he thought there was something in it for him (curse Flonne and her ignorant ideas of 'rewards'). This was the same situation. There was nothing to gain from getting the stupid thing back. But what was wrong with leaving it? Why did he have to bother getting back the item that he never dared reveal to anyone, not even the former angel trainee who had given it to him in the first place? He grimaced to himself. If he wasn't quick, especially considering his currently under-powered state, he was bound to burn up.

"Laharl! Hey! Wait, what're you – LAHARL DON'T - !"

Glen's panicked little girl-shriek was the last Laharl heard of anything before he plunged down into the boiling lake.

…_Laharl? Laharl!_

* * *

Glen stared at the last spot where he had seen his fellow prisoner. All that was left were a few bubbles rising to the surface and nothing else. Why the hell did that guy just dive into lava? Laharl didn't seem like the suicidal type, so… just why? Was it Axis? Did she really have the power to drive him towards that? Yes, she was bad, but honestly, suicide? Demons were one of the few races with low suicidal rates! (not counting battles with impossible odds / hotheadedness)

"…*sigh*" Glen heard Axis's footsteps as she continued to walk along the lava path ahead of them. "He must've been weaker than I thought. Stupid Vassal, letting his feelings get the better of him."

"…Axis…" Glen was still staring at the lava, unable to look away. All of the statistics of demons and all of the questions about Laharl's fatal action were still buzzing in his mind, and he was unable to stop thinking. "…Laharl just… _died_…" True, Glen didn't know him well enough to grieve but the loss of his brief teammate was still sudden.

"And? Your point? If you're feeling sorry, then from now on you're forbidden to have pity for anyone!" Her footsteps stopped. "Since you're a wimp, though, I'll consider letting you pity yourself. _You'll_ be picking up _Vassal's_ slack, after all."

…Crap. Did that mean he would have to go through all those training sessions with her? As strong as he was, he still felt pain and fear of all things. Without thinking all that much about it, he closed his eyes and stretched his foot over the edge of the lava pool.

"…Vassal? Hey, I order you to follo – VASSAL!"

Glen felt Axis grip his hair tight and yank him away from the edge of the lava. Had she acted a second later the thief would have already been submerged in his hot grave. He yelped in pain when his back hit the rock and he was forced to look Axis in the glowing red eye.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO KILL ME! YOU'RE JUST AS WEAK AS VASSAL, VASSAL!" she spat, booting Glen in the ribs in her fit of rage. "YOU *bleep*ING IDIOT! First we find the antidote for this curse, THEN you die! What's so hard to understand about that?"

From that point of their travel, the princess dragged the thief by his wild hairdo to stop him from another suicide attempt, to his disdain. Damn, he'd have to find a replacement for Laharl if he wanted to avoid training with Axis. Either that or figure out something that would get her to cool it.

* * *

"…L…Laharl? Laharl!" Flonne called out, jumping out of her skin and looking around frantically. Something was wrong. She had this familiar feeling, a warm, pleasant feeling, but it was all mixed up with something hard to describe. But she didn't know what.

"…Miss Flonne?" Flonne gazed up from her place on the floor curiously and saw Emrys' eyes through his cell door's peephole, the only part of the young angel she was able to see. She couldn't read his emotion from his eyes alone, but there was some hint of concern as well as curiosity when he said, "Who is Mister Laharl?"

She blinked and took a gander at where she was. Of course, she was still in the dungeons. The dark, dreary row of doors that lead into different cells. She must have been dreaming. But, then again, what was she dreaming about? She remembered hearing something… a familiar chime… and something about Laharl…

"…Miss Flonne, are you alright?"

"O-oh! Sorry, Emrys!" Flonne laughed nervously and hopped up to her feet, finding her balance as her short heels clicked on the stone floor. "I'm just a little tired, that's all, no need to worry!" She remembered not getting enough sleep before they left with Etna's _stolen_ ship. She tossed a glance at the wreck and hoped there was some way to return it repaired.

"Ah. Please forgive me for repeating my question, but who is Mister Laharl?" Emrys asked.

Flonne perked up immediately and focused on his door again. "Oh, Laharl's my friend!" She let her own words sink in and immediately started to ponder about it. "Well, I think of him as a friend, but he tells me to call him my master like everyone else in the castle."

"Master? So Master Laharl is a Seraph?"

"Oh, nononono!" Flonne covered her hand with one mouth to stop any form of laughter from leaving it. Laharl as a Seraph was rather amusing and very unlikely. "Laharl is an overlord and I'm one of his vassals! Etna too!"

"Va… ssals?" Emrys replied slowly, his eyes remaining passive. "What… what is a vassal to an overlord, Miss Flonne?"

"A sl… servant, Emrys. A vassal is a servant." Flonne avoided the word 'slave', not knowing where it came from. Perhaps Etna and Laharl's behaviours were affecting her meaning of the word? What concerned her more about their little conversation, however, was how Emrys was an Apprentice and yet did not know what 'vassal' meant. Even she had known prior to becoming one, and apprentices were given much more training and education that trainees due to a personal tutor.

"So, as a demon overlord's servant… I must vanquish you? Is that right?"

She jumped almost an inch from the ground. Uh-oh. "Wh-what? Where did you get an idea like that, Emrys?" she squeaked.

"Mother. She told me that all those related to demonic affairs must be vanquished." Emrys spoke as though it were nothing more than pure fact. Flonne felt a chill crawl down her spine; Ms Fairfeather had her own… 'opinions' about demons. Reflecting on lessons with the teacher right now just made the experience even less pleasant. The 'education' from her classes clashed with Flonne's morals about love and friendship, especially now that she was… well… a demon.

"…E-Emrys, it's not like that at - "

"_MONKEY BARREL!"_

Flonne froze in place. A new voice - young, high-pitched and brimming with confidence – had echoed off the walls and into their area. She didn't move again until the loud smashing of stone followed. She flinched and looked towards the heavy door left ajar.

"_Dammit! Slow her down, that's an order!"_

"_You heard her, doods!"_

"_Protect the queen!"_

"_HEY, FLONNE! I could use a hand!"_

"Is something wrong Miss Flonne?"

She didn't answer Emrys; she was already dashing out to the corridor of cell blocks. Flonne pushed the door wide open and stepped out… only to slip on something squishy and fall down, her back slamming against the cold stone floor. She whimpered in pain and opened her eyes to see what she had slipped on. A… banana? She reached over and picked it up, oblivious to what was going on. How did this get here?

"Flonne, throw that thing away before – "

_BOOM!_

Flonne shrieked and squeezed her eyes shut in time as the banana exploded in her face. She coughed and spat the charred mush out of her mouth, wiping what was left of the fruit from her face. "Ew, that was mean, Etna!"

"That wasn't me, it was the furball!" Etna spat from further away, making a few grunts over the clashing of metal. Once Flonne could see, she looked up. Etna was just a few feet away, her spear batting away the pirate cutlass that was attacking her. But there was something odd about the weapon. It was… floating?

"…Etna? Are you fighting a ghost or – "

"Focus, Flonne! Go get that monkey!" The redhead avoided the ghost sword's attacks long enough to point towards the other end of the long hallway.

Flonne got up and turned around; Prinnies were being tripped, flung and stomped on by a blur of orange and yellow, and the voice she had heard from before was cackling above the noise. Flonne held her hand out in front of her and readied her staff, pointing towards the chaos once it materialised. She opened her mouth, ready to cast her spell, but the brightly coloured blur was no longer in sight. The Prinnies, those that were left anyway, all stood there just as confused as Flonne.

"Shoulda watched your back!" the voice laughed, suddenly behind her. Something hit her back and sent her stumbling forward, before another attack was called out. "Banana Blitz!"

Flonne smacked face first into the ground as objects rained down from above her, pelting her with something that turned into mush. She shivered as she tried to push herself back up, caked in mashed bananas and covered with banana peels. It felt so disgusting.

"Want some more?" the voice taunted from above. Flonne shrieked and pointed her magic weapon towards the source of the voice.

"Pretti Parti Petrifika!" She felt the staff heat up as it shot the spell towards the voice. There was a squeal and something fell to her feet with a thud. Flonne rubbed her eyes, repeating the word 'ew' as she did so, and looked down at her attacker.

She was just a small girl. A small girl on the floor in a strange, crooked position, thanks to Flonne's petrifying spell. She wasn't a demon, but she wasn't human either; her fur-covered ears and the matching tail sprouting from the end of her spine proved that much. She was dark skinned with warm, bright orange hair that flared up, and her big, round eyes were just as orange. Her clothing was a little wild in a jungle sense; her baggy tube top and shorts were scuffed up and tied in place by rope, clearly too big to were without something to belt them. Her little jacket, with its torn sleeves, was trimmed with a frayed material, as were her fingerless gloves and toeless… socks? She looked rather odd, actually.

Flonne took her eyes off the frozen girl and looked over at her friend, who was still fighting against floating cutlass. "What about the sword?"

"I… think… it's… hers! It… appeared… when… she… threw… something… at… me!" Etna grunted over her blocks.

The blonde looked from Etna to the sword back to Etna. Should she help? Could her spells work on a ghost sword at all –

"GORILLA TOSS!"

Flonne felt her dress being grabbed from behind, but that was all the sense she could make of what happened next; she was suddenly looking up at the blur of a ceiling and no longer had the ground beneath her feet.

"DOOD! Protect the rook!"

"I thought she was the knight?"

"No, no, she's the bishop!"

"Doods, hurry up! Homerun-block formation, doods!"

She felt her head spin and her stomach churn as her unnatural flight came to an end; she landed on something not soft but not solid, and there were multiple cries of 'dood' as she was placed carefully on the ground.

"All doods present and accounted for?"

"Uuuuh, Dimitri's down for the count, dood."

"Poor dood."

Flonne opened her eyes, surrounded by Prinnies, and grasped either side of her head with her hands. She squinted over to where she had once been standing. The girl was back up on her feet, bouncing on the spot, as though she hadn't been phased by Flonne's spell at all. It wasn't until she focused on the girl's right arm that Flonne noticed the stiff and crooked state of it.

"Haha, witch! I don't need two arms to beat you filthy demons!" the girl laughed, her free arm poised and glowing with yellow energy. "Now, back to where we were!"

"Etna, who's this? Is she another prisoner?" Flonne called out, quietly thanking the Prinnies that helped her back to her feet.

"I don't know who she is, all I know is that she jumped out and attacked us!"

"Ha! Silly demons! Did you forget the hero that challenged you already?" the girl cackled, throwing her head back. "Well, I, Simia Munki Sidu, shall deal with you lackeys for what you did to poor Acey!"

"Who the hell is Acey?"

"Shut up, demon, and let me talk!" Munki snapped, swinging around to point at Etna. "You're the ones who hurt him, I know it! And as his loyal and faithful sidekick I must avenge what you did to - "

Flonne, not really liking the notion, took her staff in both hands and held it out in front of her. She winced; this seemed like a dirty tactic with her opponent's back turned, but she and Etna and the Prinnies were going through so much trouble. "Pretti Parti Petrifika!" A pale light enveloped the head of the staff and shone towards the ranting girl. It hit her square in the back – she couldn't even make a sound when it hit – and she toppled to the ground, frozen in her angered stance.

The sword Etna had been fighting dissipated into the air without a trace of it left, and Etna let out an agitated groan. "Stupid furball, making me fight a low-level weapon of all things…"

Flonne slowly walked towards Munki, the Prinnies following close behind – and a couple even wiping off some of the banana mush left on her – to get a closer look, just to be safe this time. Indeed, the monkey girl was completely frozen this time, like a statue that had just been knocked over. She reached down and took hold of Munki's arm, pulling her upright. Hopefully the petrification spell wouldn't last too long; unfortunately, Flonne hadn't mastered it enough to control how long its effects would last. Etna stomped over, dismissing her spear, and bent down to look Munki in the eye. "I think we just found someone to take your angel buddy's place in that cell."

"You think we'll really need to?" Flonne queried, bending her knees and lowering herself as the Prinnies began to insist on getting the mush out of her hair too.

Etna straightened up as some of the Prinnies flocked over to her and began to tend to her too; neatening her hair, shining her boots, dusting dirt from her clothing. "She just bragged about being some hero's sidekick. I don't want to have to deal with her again. Besides, locking her up will keep her out of our hair while we check this place out. So far, none of these Prinnies know how to repair our ship. We may as well enjoy ourselves."

Flonne looked at Munki with pity. Poor girl. Hopefully they wouldn't have to lock her up for too long.

"Queen Etna, your doodness!" Flonne turned around to where she had entered the hallway from. A Prinny stood in the doorway, saluting Etna, as his friend next to him struggled to hold onto something. A …bat, maybe? "We removed the emblem successfully, but it needs a new lock or host to keep it stable, dood!"

"Just chuck this monkey here in the cell and put the thing back on the lock. I want to deal with this pest later."

"Yes, Queen Etna, dood!" The Prinnies finished cleaning up the girls and gathered around Munki, picking her statuesque form up and carrying her over to the cell block.

Flonne looked at Etna with surprise and mouthed, 'Queen Etna?'. She sighed and whispered with a grin, "Tell you later."

"Miss Flonne, Miss Etna? Are you both unharmed?" A smile came to Flonne's face and she spun around to take a good look at Emrys. After all she had only seen his eyes so far.

She froze. Maybe she had hit herself with her own spell? Maybe she was still dizzy from being thrown too hard? Maybe she was still dreaming? She had to be. There was no way that this could have been happening, no way it could be true.

"…Huh," Etna thought aloud from behind her, "didn't see that coming."

Flonne, horrified, terrified, close to devastation, let out a scream and fell into the panicked arms of Etna's new Prinny recruits, feeling faint.

* * *

Axis marched up to the top of the rocky hill, feeling the weight of her waste of a vassal start to tire her. No, she couldn't be tired; true demons couldn't ever tire so easily. She would keep dragging him for all she cared if it stopped him from going ahead and killing her. Honestly, who dared to follow an idiot into lava like a blind fool?

"Don't you even feel _anything_ about Laharl?"

Axis growled and looked down at the kleptomaniac with disgust. "You idiot, why would I feel anything at all? Demons don't let petty emotions get in the way!"

"…Clearly anger's not that petty, then," he mumbled. Axis snarled and checked ahead. Nope, no lava he could roll into; they were close to the informants lair now. Already satisfied with her action, the princess pulled Glen out in front of her and booted him down the hill, watching him get tossed like a salad as he tumbled to the bottom. She sneered and, in a more dignified manner than her vassal's, jumped down and slid down the hill. She hopped off when she reached the bottom and strutted over to Glen's crumpled form on the ground. He looked up at her with weary disdain. "Any chance of you growing out of your habit of causing pain?"

"It's no habit, it's the demon's way of life!" Axis spat, stomping on Glen's hand. He bit his lip as he pathetically tried to hold in any cry of pain. "Now focus, Vassal! We haven't got long now!"

She stomped on ahead of him and looked around. He had to be here somewhere. No-one with a collection of treasured junk would have it anywhere in immediate reach of magma. Axis scanned the rock and solid magma in the small canyon. Then her eyes fell on the unnatural circular hole in the side of a cliff. She grinned; for a smart and paranoid information broker, he sure was a stupid one. "Vassal, hurry up! We've got a snitch to torture and kill!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Axis stopped in her tracks. Smoke billowed out from the entrance and she frowned. Oh, someone had better tell her this was not happening. A dark figure emerged from the smoke; a brown cloaked being, his face hidden in the shadow of his hood, and only half her height. "Behold! The All-Knowing forbids the entry of unworthy mortals!"

"Die, shorty!" Axis summoned her axe and, without giving the short man a moment to blink, swung it around and brought it down. The informant squeaked and scurried out of the way, avoiding her axe by the skin of his teeth. She raised it over her head once more and glared down at him. "No-one calls me a mortal!"

"S-silence, fools!" The little man sprung up and pointed up at Axis. "I know why you are here! Well you won't find it! You won't find it at all!"

"NO-ONE SILENCES ME!" Axis slammed the axe into the ground again, watching as the informant dodged her again. Dammit, why wouldn't he slow down?

"Look, we're here for information." Axis looked around, wondering where Glen's voice was coming from. But wait. It couldn't be Glen's. It didn't sound pathetic enough. With a scowl, she looked back at the informant, contemplating on whether or not to use magic. But he was cowering on the ground. Glen was suddenly crouching in front of him, holding his demonic, fanged gun to the little man's head with a cold expression. Axis felt… maybe a little surprised.

"V-Vassal, you get out of my way or I'll - "

"Kill yourself?" Glen's other hand pulled out from his pants pocket. An identical gun was in it, which he promptly pressed to his temple. Axis absolutely loathed the cocky look on his face. He was threatening her. He was going to be punished for that later. "My friend here isn't in the mood to talk, but I am. If you give her what she wants, then maybe you might live another day or so."

The princess, hating this situation with every ounce of her evil being, simply spat out, "I am _not_ your friend, Vassal!"

* * *

Laharl might have actually _approved_ of the sudden change in his behaviour.

Glen stepped carefully down the carved staircase of the massive cave, keeping his left gun's aim on the 'All-Knowing's' head and his right gun to his head. If the broker made a wrong move, he would die. If Axis made a wrong move, they she and Glen would die. Perhaps this wasn't the most productive way to handle this. But, then again, it was the only real productive way with Axis around, so this was perhaps the only opportunity where they all had a chance of making out alive.

Speaking of Axis and deathly situations, she was just one step behind him, literally hissing and spitting various curses and insults into his ear as they walked. She was being pretty insistent herself, keeping her own weapon drawn as well. Glen could tell she was waiting for an opening, he could feel it. Odd, since she had wanted to squeeze the broker of information _before_ murdering him not long ago. She must have _really_ been pissed off by the broker's introduction earlier.

They all reached the bottom of the staircase and turned a corner. It was a paradise as well as a dump. The whole area was a mess, filled with piles of absolute garbage and valuable rarities; Glen could make an accurate assumption of just how many worlds and cultures this broker had 'admired' by merely looking at this place. He had to give this man props for getting a life size golden statue of a dragon all the way down those stairs.

The little man motioned towards the lone desk in the room, home to three huge monitors, a keyboard and a computer; Glen nodded and followed him closely. Axis was fidgeting behind him. _She must not be used to going five minutes without absolute violence and anarchy,_ Glen thought, doubting that that kind of sarcastic remark would get him anywhere. If anything she'd just try to kill him regardless of their souls being bound.

The broker climbed into his swivel chair and sat up to the monitors, his hands a blur as he typed a password in. The screens lit up with a 'Welcome' logo in bubble letters in rainbow colours – Glen caught a glimpse of Axis twitch in pure disgust, big surprise – and almost immediately the screens changed into long, long, _long_ lists of tiny text.

"Overlord Aldric has not been in my services for centuries." Axis growled in frustration, but all Glen had to do was twitched the trigger to his head ever so slightly to keep her quiet. "All of the information he had given me was requested to be destroyed, and it has been. But, if you would both consider sparing my life, I can give you one piece of information I saved."

Cautiously, Glen lowered the gun to the Broker's head, keeping it at the ready just in case, and gave Axis a knowing look. She glared at the gun to his own head and shifted her glare to him. He gulped, feeling his stomach twist itself into knots, imagining what horrors she was planning. Well, at least she was being negotiable for now, even if it was against her own will. "Do you know where he might be?" Glen asked.

"No, no. If you're looking for him, then he's not in his castle, which is where I would have told you to look." The broker twisted around in his swivel chair, obviously feeling less pressured than before. "As I said, all of his information is deleted. However, the information I hold is not about him; it's about what he was looking for."

Axis finally spoke up, facing the broker. "Talk or die!"

"Axis."

"Shut up, Vassal!"

The broker head switched from one to the other cautiously. "…I retrieved information for him about how demons of the old Netherworlds 'work', Your Highness," he answered slowly. "I have too much information to just tell you so I'll have to just give it to you if you want it. He also wanted information about Soul Intertwining."

"Soul Intertwining?" Glen asked. Despite the circumstances he was very curious all of a sudden. "You mean Soul Binding?"

"As far as I know, they're two different things. The only thing they have in common is that they connect souls in some form." The broker let out a sigh. "I was keen to see that information for myself, but Overlord Aldric threatened my life if I dared to look at it. The little I dug up was given to him."

"You can't find it again?" Axis took a small step towards him, her grip on her axe getting tighter.

The broker waved his hands in front of him in a feeble attempt at defence. "I-I-I cut off the routes I took to find it! Aldric would have had my head if I tried to look for it again!" he started to swivel his chair round and round, clinging to the back of the seat. "I'm excellent at what I do, but not _perfect_! Nor am I backed up by muscle! I don't have any means of defending myself!"

"Uh… Mr Knowing?" Glen reached out and placed his hand on the chair, stopping its spin. "You can relax, I understand where you're coming from." He took a step away to let the broker have his space. "We'll just take the stuff about the old Netherwo - "

"No." Axis was blunt with her answer. Glen looked up and noticed that she was walking for the exit. "There's no point in getting stuff that I already know. Vassal, we're leaving."

"But Axis - "

"LEAVING!"

Glen hesitated. He ignored the shivering broker completely and walked after Axis. He was moving to put his guns away but thought better of it. If he kept the gun to his head, then maybe he'd get some time for peace, so to speak, until they got back to the castle. It was better than Axis kicking him all the way there.

When he caught up to the demon girl she immediately snapped, "I swear if you _ever_ stop me from killing again, I am going to - "

"Why did you turn down the info?"

"DON'T INTERRUPT!"

Glen nearly lost grip on his gun. And he had just been getting used to her being 'subdued' too. He pressed the barrel harder to his head – just in case she needed a bit more of a visual warning – and asked her, "So why did you?"

Axis growled and focused back on the stairs. "I know what I am and where I live, I don't need some snitch to tell me what I already know. And before you ask; if you're so curious about it, TOUGH. LUCK. Now put that gun down already so I can beat you!"

Glen sighed and began to tune her out, seeing her in a different view now that he was playing the cards in his favour. He began to wonder if maybe he should hold an informal funeral for Laharl… well, after he found Simon, of course.

* * *

**Munki****:** Great tragedy! _The Great Heroine_'s secret identity has been revealed!  
**Etna**: You know I didn't expect that annoying character to be a _monkey_ of all things.  
**Emrys**: Miss Etna, I believe that she is more accurately a humanoid with monkey features and an active lifestyle.  
**Etna**: Same difference, kiddo. And that's _Queen_ Etna.  
**Munki**: *ahem* Her latest targets have evaded her power and lived to tell all of who she really is!  
**Flonne**: I don't mean to be rude, but how is a secret identity that important? Oooooh, is your alter-ego a space detective?  
**Etna**: Flonne, she looks like her clothes are recycled potato sacks. Do you _really_ think she could be a space detective? _Really?_  
**Emrys**: I do not mean to interrupt, but what is the difference between a regular detective and a _space_ detective?  
**Munki**: Shut up, foul minions of evil! To tamper with the chapter preview is a grave sin!  
**Etna**: I don't know what kind of opinion you had of demons before, but we don't honestly give a crap about stuff like that; stealing, killing, avoiding taxes -  
**Emrys**: There are those who avoid tax payment? I was not aware of that before.  
**Flonne**: Nooo, stop influencing him with nether-stuff! We need to get him back to Celestia before anything else happens to him!  
**Munki**: In the next chapter! _Irritation, Initiation, Interrogation and Investigation! A trio reunited and a princess researching for answers!_  
**Etna**: Maybe we should've tied her up and gagged her just to be on the less annoying side.  
**Munki**: Nothing can stop my previews! NOTHING!

* * *

Alright, I have good news and bad news. The good news; I am now free from college and thus have been able to finish this chapter. The bad news? I'm diving into A levels for the next two years. NOOOOOOOO! T_T

Hopefully I'll be able to manage my time better than this year and I'll be able to juggle this and three other fics. Right now I'm updating this one along with another, and doing some grammar-checking, as I start to get ready to leave my second residence for good.

To be honest, I've been reluctant to finish this chapter as I've been experiencing Writer's Block around it, mostly due to new and obsessive interests. I may have to make the plot of this shorter than planned, but if I type each chapter to provide as much as possible it should hopefully work out.

Later Days, doods!


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